Shaolin vs. Ninja (1983)
A Japanese Prince proposes to the Shaolin abbot that a contest between Ching and Japanese martials arts should be held at the Shaolin Temple. However this is just a front for a more villainous plot to overthrow Shaolin and then China herself. Without doubt some of the best choreography to come out of the Orient and crack up as Japanese Bushido experts take on the very best of Shaolin kung fu
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Sadly Over-hyped
i must have seen a different film!!
It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
SHAOLIN VS. NINJA is a typically nondescript Taiwanese action romp from director Robert Tai. The plot is exactly as it says in the title, charting the fortunes of a Shaolin Temple that gets attacked by a ruthless squad of ninjas. Much low rent action ensues, none of it much cop, even if it is mildly amusing. It's not as much fun as the pure over the top goofiness of something like MAFIA VS. NINJA, which is still the pinnacle of this sub-genre in my mind.Alexander Rei Lo is the peaceful hero spurred into action, with the usual familiar faces appearing along the way. The English dubbing is appalling, the sound effects are completely over the top, and the cheesy choreography takes some beating. Sadly, the whole episode is never quite crazy enough, leaving it unmemorable rather than a classic of its type.
When Robert Tai is involved, you know what to expect: Tons of fighting, lots of fun, hilarious English dub and more...it's even better when Alexander Lou is one of the stars of the movie.You probably saw the plot tons of times: Japanese baddies (usually stereotyped as rascals with no mercy) giving the Chinese a hard time and (fortunately for the audience) there is only one way to solve everything...fight!The (numerous) fight scenes are entertaining, well choreographed and never boring, plus, there are a few bits of gore.And there's the cheesy English dub, it's so cheesy that it ruins some of the serious dialogue...but we don't watch a Robert Tai film for the dialogues, right?Give it a chance if you are looking something fun and entertaining.
The movie itself is not very good. The problem with this movie is that we don't have a main character to follow. There's too much look alike monks and it's kind of hard to know who is who. The ninjas are a little bit boring in this film , but watch out for the shaolin monks...they rule. I watched it in french and the "Praise be to buddha" thing was incomprehensible. Maybe this expression has not been translate in french...You may give this movie a 4(out of 10), like me, if you watch it for the fights.
Alexander Lo outdoes his earlier movie "Mafia vs Ninja" in this one. "Praise be to Buddha."I watched an English language version, which had some of the worst dubbing I've seen--there are many lines where the characters continue to speak for two seconds after the voice is finished."Praise be to Buddha."The choreography you have to see for yourself (but then again, there's not much reason to watch these dumb kung fu flicks except for some good laughs)."Praise be to Buddha."One of the biggest weaknesses of "Shaolin vs Ninja" is that there is not really one main character to follow (theoretically Alexander Lo, but he is absent for a lot of the movie)."Praise be to Buddha."Oh, yeah, and how could I forget? If you like drinking games, why don't you try having a beer everytime the senior monk says, "Praise be to Buddha."? If your brain hasn't atrophied by the end of the movie, you will surely have died of alcohol poisoning."Praise be to Buddha."Rating: 2/10, but only because there's actually worse"Praise be to Buddha."