Shaolin Temple (1982)

You won't be disappointed!

Boring

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

I've been watching classic martial arts films for about 10 years now, ranging from serious drama to absurd comedy. You can find all sort of things in this genre, although they tend to have great fighting scenes regardless. This film is not an exception. The kung-fu is brilliant, and you can enjoy the use of several weapons as well as excellent unarmed combat. The styles are fluid and well executed. However, I find the movie boring and very disrespectful towards Buddhism and Shaolin. Perhaps the fact that I had to watch it dubbed also took its toll and I ended up disinterested and bored. If you are fond of Shaolin, I'd recommend any film by Shaw Brothers instead.

If you can ignore the animal cruelty in the film, and just focus on the martial arts, this is truly an impressive film. Unfortunately, quite a bit of screen time is wasted while Jet Li accidentally kills a dog, and then proceeds to consume it. It is quite an odd scene, with other novices from the Shaolin Temple coming out of the trees to enjoy a good old German Shepherd kabob. There is another scene where a lamb's throat is crushed by a follower of the evil king, and his lackeys run around killing sheep with lances. I understand the setting was long before the existence of PETA, but it was nonetheless surprising (disturbing) to see actual animals butchered on camera.Nevertheless, the Kung Fu in this movie is spectacular. Jet Li and his co-stars have such incredible command of their movements, it is breathtaking. The action sequences pull no punches, there are no comedic Jackie Chan moments, instead it is all-out war to the finish. In my humble opinion, the fight scenes are some of the best ever filmed.R.

"The Shaolin Temple" is the first Chinese martial arts film to use gongfu artists instead of actors. Initially, the Japanese investors hired actors, but didn't like the results, so they hired regional and national wushu champions. Although Jet Li is the main character and his wushu is exceptional, don't underestimate the other gongfu artists; they are just as good. The film was two years in the making due to injuries the cast received doing their own stunts. The credits state that the fight choreography was done by Pan Qing Fu, but this is not so. The cast choreographed their own fight scenes and deserve the credit they've been denied.

Make sure to check this movie out if you can find it! If you can, tell me where so I can order a copy. As Eric Yu says, the plot is rather typical, but the fight scenes are really well thought out. The martial arts choreography was done by Pan Qingfu, who stars in the movie as one of the bad guys and who was also the coach of the Chinese national wushu team at one point.If you'd like to check out another movie with Pan Qingfu, this time playing himself, watch Iron and Silk. It's rather silly, but Master Pan is pretty cool and Mark Salzman is awfully good at wushu for a white guy.