The Shaolin Temple
Review
10/9/00
Format: VCD
Stars: Jet Li, Yu Hai, uncountable others

This Mei Ah VCD release of The Shaolin Temple is not subtitled, so I don't know what the story is. It looks like some kind of invasion of the Shaolin temple by either pirates or slave traders, or both, I have no idea.

This is another landmark in HK film history. As Project A was to stunt/fast martial arts, this was to real, pretty, scholarly martial arts (Shaolin scholarly I mean). There is more than a handful of fights, all of them performed by none other than the experts themselves, and all of them, except for one filmed in the dark, are very well filmed. I won't go into every one of them here because there are so many, so I'll just give some generalizations and now that I've changed the ratings system, it'll be easier to give numbers.

To begin with, this movie has lots of good training sequences. One of them is a staff training with a bunch of monks being led by Yu Hai, was the father in Tai Chi 2. Then there's the part with the 25 or so guys on the field, practing with every known weapon, including a guy throwing a rope dart around the way Jackie did with the rope horseshoe in Shanghai Noon. Yu Hai shows off after seeing Jet Li poke his head over the wall, and does it really well too. There's also a scene where Jet is practicing with a bunch of other monks who have pounded their feet into the ground so many times that there are big dents in the blocks.



Jet Li ends up killing a dog on accident and, after burying it, realizes how much of a waste that would be and eats it instead. This was the time when it wasn't taboo to do that, whereas today people would freak out. And it's funny too! While a bunch of people are eating up, a drunk monk in the group does a really cool looking Drunken Staff technique.



Li and another monk face off outside which consists of REAL martial arts. I think that the high points of this movie were when the guys did hand to hand stuff, which was what this was. They move really well, and it looks real too, as though that's the way they're supposed to defend themselves. I mean, there are other ways to choreograph a fight, but this is a good alternative to the modern, flashy kind with useless moves and 360 backhands. The weapons fights, though, are not to be forgotten. Jet Li takes on probably 30 men with a staff in the marsh scene, which is incredible. The choreography here is not common where each guy takes a stab at it. Li moves through the crowd like a one-man hurricane that knows what it's doing. Cool stuff.



The last two fights are probably the most spectacular. The first, at the temple, has every monk against every, uh, other guy. Staff, spear, sword, rope dart, some weird blade, and good hand to hand combat is all over the place, and everyone in the background is working away as well. It's pretty incredible. Jet Li takes on the leader at the end hand to hand and it's also very good. In total, The Shaolin Temple is an extremely action packed piece of work that is choreographed in the most realistic style possible while still maintaining a great image. It's not as intense as it could have been, though, because there's hardly any music. However, the camera does provide some interesting feel to the fights as it moves nicely around the fighters sometimes, occasionally behind some grass or along a building. A good touch to any movie.



Very very well done. Jet Li, as a young guy too (1983 film), is awesome as is Yu Hai and every other guy present. I can't think of anyone I wasn't impressed with, except for a girl who slings around a whip or something.

5/5 - One of the most realistic shaolin martial arts movies I've ever seen, until I see the 2nd and 3rd ones that is.

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