Customer Reviews

SHAOLIN TEMPLE

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I am admittedly an addict of kung fu films. Ever since I was 10 and saw Enter the Dragon, I have watched literally hundreds of kung fu movies, practiced various styles and read the Toa Te Ching. I love all Chinese martial arts films from plotless two dollar chop sockey flicks of the 70's to modern day crime saga's to swordsman fantasies with sexy ghosts, hopping vampires and enchanted swords.

Shaolin temple and it's warrior monks are revered by movie goers and film makers, to the same extent they are admired by martial arts students the world over, so naturally shaolin and it's monks are featured as agents of virtue fighting for good in almost half the kung fu films out there. But no other film is as historicly significant and few are as visually spectacular as this one.

Firstly Shaolin Temple was the first martial arts film made in communist mainland China. Funded by the Chinese government in the early 80's to cash in on the kung fu film market in Hong Kong's success. One should consider the significance of this alone since religion of any kind was pretty much forbiden by the government of China, yet this film was made with quite a lot of Buhddist phylosophy and ceromony featured.

Secondly this was the debut film of Jet Li, who has since became the 3rd biggest star in martial arts film history (Bruce Lee #1, Jackie Chan #2) and his star continues to rise today. At the time Jet Li was the national Wu Shu champion of China. His performance in this film so amazing that after it screened in China, people walked great distances to see Jet Li at his home village, some days the line of people outsides of his house stretched for miles! No BS.

Also along side Li, the cast was made up of many other Wu Shu champions, unfourtunatly Li and all actors in the cast were paid about the equivelent of $0.20 a day, which is the same rate factory workers were paid! A few members of the cast are also real shaolin monks.

Another amazing feature of this film is that many of the scenes were filmed in the real shaolin temple. The temple itself is as stunning as most ancient Chinese structures, but there is something truely special when scenes are filmed in the forest of Pagodas, where the most respected monks are buried and also the hall with the holes in the floor is a true training hall in Shaolin and the holes in the stone floor have actually being worn down by centuries of practice. Something about the reality just astounds you in a way that mere cinematic specials effects never will.

If that is not enough, Shaolin Temple features some of the most lengthy and exciting, action packed and dazzling, skillfull and well executed fight scenes ever caught on film. The scenes feature plenty of different fighting styles and some of the more exotic Chinese weaponary, not usually seen in action on film. There is a great piece too where Jet Li peeks over a fence to watch monks practice, once again the REALITY (of their skill) is more stunning than any explosions or laughably phony CGI.

Shaolin Temple is a true classic of the kung fu genre and landmark film for many reasons. Ever since this film hit the screens, the Shaolin temple in China has received renewed fame and people the world over have flocked to the real temple in the hopes of learning from the monks. Hundreds of schools, a few are run by actual monks, have set up all around the actual temple. The power of the film Shaolin Temple has inspired countless people East and West and I am sure that it will continue to inspire.

Shortly after he became national all-around Wu Shu champion of China, Jet Li, at the age of, like, 19, made this kick-butt movie. Okay, the plot has been seen before: young martial artist goes to the Shaolin temple to train so he can take revenge on the murderer of his father. But the film goes a little deeper, since the hero cools down, learns humility and instead of getting the girl, becomes a monk. Good character development as Li wobbles between humility and burning desire for revenge. As flamboyant and action packed as Jackie Chan's movies are, Jet Li's, on the other hand, are just outstanding martial arts skill. Watch this movie for excellent examples of the martial artists being produced by the wu shu training camps in mainland China - broadswords, whip chains, three-sectional staff work, rope darts, killer long staff forms and combat, and awesome open-handed forms and combat. A real martial artists' movie.

The Shaolin Temple was the first Chinese martial arts film to use real gongfu practitioners as actors (Bruce Lee's films are exempt because he did not use Chinese gongfu in his films; his style, which died with him, was primarily western martial arts with Asian kicking). These actors were the best martial artists in China. The film was funded by Japanese investors and took about two years to film due to the injuries the cast received doing their own stunts (the contact was real). According to the credits, Pan Qingfu choreographed the film. This is not so. All the actors choreographed their own parts. It is also not true that Jet Li was the reigning Chinese National Versatile Champion at the time this film was made (although he did hold the title for five years). That honor goes to Hu Jianqiang, who played the leader of the young monks. He is one of the few masters of both Northern and Southern styles, and Jet Li's friend and senior. This film is leaps and bounds above the earlier Hong Kong films.

A must-see for Jet Li fans, but I wish this had been subtitled, rather than dubbed in English. The film is not letterboxed.

The inclusion of the original theatrical trailer is a nice touch, but parts of the video transfer, especially low-light scenes such as the drunken pole/sword fight, are so low-contrast that it's difficult to see the action at times. The dubbing isn't terrible, but the translation takes a few liberties with the story line, such as disguising the fact that the animal he's roasting is his girlfriend's dog! The musical numbers, at least, have been kept from the original.

I have been a Jet Li fan since the first movie I ever saw him in. I have known of this movie for a while but was always hesitant to buy it based on the comments of such a low quality transfer and overall bad DVD. Great News! The Mei Ah Entertainment version is here! I tracked down a widescreen version(edaymovie.com) and to my surprise it is digitally remastered and in anamorphic widescreen. It is beautiful. Dare I even say perfect!

Now for the movie. Think of Gordon Liu and the Shaw Bros. classic Master Killer(the stories have nearly the same plot), except this one is so much better! For starters, this is the first movie to ever be filmed at the real Shaolin Temple, and some of the actual monks are in the movie! This film has a ton of fighting and training scenes. Around 3/4 of the movie is non stop kung fu amazement. There are so many different weapons and styles used in this movie: spears, staffs, three sectioned staffs, rope and chain darts, all kinds of swords including a scene where a bad guy uses drunken sword style against Jet Li's drunken staff (worth buying the movie alone for), and other weapons. There are also countless hand to hand styles, too many to mention. Everybody in this movie is outstanding, not only Jet Li.

Like I stated earlier, get ONLY the Mei Ah Entertainment version. It is digitally remastered and in anamorphic widescreen. It is the best transfer of a movie this old you will ever see. And the sound is great. It is in DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 in the original language with optional subtitles.

If you haven't seen this movie before and you are a kung fu fan or you have an inferior version of this already, I highly reccommend buying this(Mei Ah version). You will love it!

Other Mei Ah titles that are also digitally remastered and anamorphic widescreen are Jet Li's Kids From Shaolin and Kung Fu Cult Master aka Lord of the Wu Tang, Brigitte Lin's Dragon Inn, Jackie Chan's Snake In The Eagle's Shadow and Drunken Master, and Yuen Woo Ping's Drunken Master 2: Dance Of The Drunk Mantis.

The Shaolin Temple in a fantastic movie. The fight scenes in this movie are so good, you will not be able to take your eyes off the screen. Plus: the movie depicts the "drunken pole" style which is outrageous. Jet Li plays this mischiveous character that wants to be a monk to learn kung fu for what else...revenge! Even though this type of plot line has been seen before, the movie takes on a life of its own when the monks get in on the action. This is a "can't miss" for all fans of this genre and especially for fans of Jet.

Also, this dvd allows you to watch the movie in dubbed english or the original language.

I'm chinese and let me tell you, this movie is the closest to real gong-fu from ancient China. The scenes were taken in the real ShaoLin temple. There's an old saying in China that all gong-fu originated from ShaoLin. This movie rejuvenized our gong-fu tradition in mainland China just like Bruce Lee started the kungfu trend in Western world. Bruce Lee's style is not pure Chinese gong-fu. It's a mixture of Chinese gong-fu and other styles like karate or taekwondo, plus his own creations. In this movie you can see what real gong-fu is like. The movie was shot with very little wiring or "special effects", and because at that time in China making a movie was taken very seriously, the gong-fu in it were of high standard. See this movie for real gong-fu!

One of the best gung-fu movies of all time. In this movie you will get to see real gung-fu. Many movies made in recent history feature wire-work that just really takes away from the action. But, in this movie all of the stunts performed are real.
Another one of the many pros about this movie is the sheer amount of forms performed in this movie. There are multiple weapon forms, Tiger Head Hooked Swords, Drunked Sword, Drunken Pole, Nine Section Whip, Double Nine Section Whip, 3-sectioned staff, Staff, Spear, Rope Dart, Meteor Hammers, and a less common shackle form(a form done with the arms bound together).
All of my gung-fu practitioning friends and I love this movie. The movie really gives you an idea of how powerful gung-fu practitioners really are.
A must get for anyone even slightly interested in martial arts.

I have seen both VHS and DVD versions of this movie. You must get the DVD one to watch the full widescreen (about 2.35:1 which tell you how much were missing in P&S VHS version) and to enjoy the excellent video / audio quality. It offers both Chinese Mandrin and dubbed Cantonese sound tracks.(with English subtitle) The shaolin monks in the movies were students from Chinese official martial art schools. Most of the action were real stuff, not like those camera tricks or fake stuff in modern kung fu movies.

World Video has released this on dvd AND vhs, and- for no apparent reason- put the widescreen print on the VHS edition and the fullscreen edition on DVD. Same holds true for "Kids from Shaolin", which is part two in the trilogy completed by "Martial Arts of Shaolin". These were Jet Li's first films and are stellar in their representation of the arts and the actors' talents, but the fullscreen format- in my humble opinion- compresses the picture and you don't get to see the range of action afforded in the widescreen format. The quality of the film transfer between the DVD and VHS editions is comparable, same for sound, so if you're a widescreen [fan] you might go ahead and hunt down a copy on tape AND dvd. If you can ascertain that the edition you are buying IS in fact manufactured by World Vision, then the tape should be widescreen, per any copies I've seen for sale and rent on a store shelf.
I don't work for World Vision, but I own the two formats and was miffed to find the dvd in FULLSCREEN- alone and as part of the "Jet Li Action 3-pak". Picky viewers be warned!!!