Finally - The best Martial Arts film sinces Ip Man!
This is the first collaboration between Jackie Chan and Andy Lau since Drunken Master 2 in 1994 and it does not disappoint. Its a huge budget film from director Benny Chan, but he finally got it right in this one. Story is good, and action scenes are incredible. Fights are pretty realistic with minimal use of wires. Fights are very well choreographed. Great film, and highly recommended for martial arts/action fans. The DVD I bought from Loto Surplus was excellent. Very high quality video and sound. This is the official HK release, single disc edition with a foil cover. It is all region DVD so it will play in the USA.
Blown away
I could not wait to get my hands on this film. A collaboration with Andy Lau and Jackie Chan, what more could I ask for? OK, let's throw in Bing Bing Fan, Jacky Wu and Nicholas Tse and make it a movie about the Shaolin temple, Buddhism and martial arts. Score!
This movie is beyond excellent. Andy Lau has the lead role and carries it effortlessly. Jackie Chan's role is minor in comparison but memorable. Nicholas Tse plays a pitch-perfect role as Lau's protege that learns ruthlessness and lust for power at his master's knee and karma comes back to bite Lau pretty darn hard. When Lau loses everything, he finds himself taken in at the Shaolin temple and learns what forgiveness and redemption really mean.
Of course, it wouldn't be a good kung fu movie without some fighting, so the bad guys have to come defile the temple and the monks must defend it from Tse and his cohorts. We are treated to some truly amazing and wonderful martial arts fighting here, right down to...
"They greet you with Shaolin martial arts. It's impudent to draw your gun."
SHAOLIN proves once again that the path to enlightenment is strewn with Kiiii-yaaaaahhhh!!! It also demonstrates that karma is a mother, ain't that so, General Hou Jie? SHAOLIN, the latest in a long line of period martial arts films, probably won't be quite the critic's darling that CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON was, but it should turn plenty of heads. It's epic enough. And aren't you yet convinced that Andy Lau is a hell of a charismatic actor? His character arc makes for a pretty compelling watch.
Set in the early 20th century, shortly after the collapse of imperial reign, China's young republic is threatened by warring warlords eager to carve out their own territories. One such is the prideful, ruthless General Hou Jie (Andy Lau) who had just conquered the town of Dengfeng, in Henan. But uneasy drapes the mantle of power, and when one plays the game of thrones, expect the unexpected. Hou Jie, concerned with an ally's true intentions, plots to destroy him, except that he...
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