The “Taejo” in Rain

I was quite enthralled by the fact that Rain’s role in the movie, Speed Racer, has been significant in the plot. His character played an important role in helping Speed Racer realize his dream of becoming a true race car driver. Yes, I watched Speed Racer not because I had thought that it’s one of the best films for this year. I watched it, simply, because Bi is part of the cast.

Since I already had an idea from the not-so-good reviews that it has been getting, I already managed my expectations. Indeed, the movie is just made to be appreciated by kids, alone.

Upon watching Bi’s portrayal, he really was able to pull it through though he still needs a lot of practice in the delivery of his lines. But, I guess, the producers and viewers could excuse his pronunciation flaws since he’s not a native English speaker. Those instances such as when he mixes up his “th” and “d” like in the word “father” could have given the audience a touch of reality in the movie since his character, Taejo Togokhan, is Japanese.

Rain first appeared in the movie being beaten up by gangsters whose primary concern is to influence the result of every racing competition that they join in. Rain looked and acted like he was badly beaten up inside a moving container van. His first lines were “No” and “No, please.” Ok, so those lines weren’t impressive, at all. I thought that he would just be given few chances to speak up.

But, then his succeeding appearances proved me wrong. His role became a lot more interesting as the story unfolds and revealed that his character, Taejo, is the son of a businessman who owns the Togokhan Motors. Taejo had participated in several racing competitions as a race car driver (not for Togokhan Motors) but for a group which has been controlling the result of the race. But when their business started to incur losses, Taejo wanted to win the race to help Togokhan Motors regain its market value. That was the time when Speed Racer and Racer X teamed up with Taejo and drove for the Togokhan team in the Casa Cristo Road Rally.

During the race, Taejo was saved a lot of times by Speed and Racer X as he easily gets carried away by his emotions. In the end, Taejo’s team won. The victory saved Taejo’s dwindling business.

Since, Taejo’s goal was fulfilled, Taejo’s sister gave the Grand Prix invitation ticket which was sent to the Togokhan team after winning the Casa Cristo to Speed. Taejo was not interested in joining the Grand Prix and seemed pleased after seeing Speed in the event.

So that was the significance of Rain’s character in the movie. In a gist, I was not impressed with the entire movie but Rain’s performance was really convincing. He just needs to practice delivering his lines more.