Where to start with this mash up of Spaghetti Western and Kung Fu movie? Carlo Ponti and Run Run Shaw put together a crew of Hong Kong, American, Italian, and Spanish actors among others. Set in America, filmed in Spain and Hong Kong with music that ran the gamut including rock, American Western, and Chinese and Italian influenced. It may not have always made sense but it was never boring.

Lo Lieh's Ho was sent to America to find his recently deceased Uncle's booty that ultimately belonged to the warlord back home. Lee Van Cleef's Dakota was a ne're do well thief that landed in prison for trying to break into the uncle's safe ending in the uncle's accidental death. The clues to where the treasure was hidden were tattooed on the backsides of four of the uncle's, uh, female friends. Ho broke Dakota out of jail where he had been canned and they began trying to get to the bottom of the mystery. They were tailed by a murderous religious fanatic sharing a dark history with Dakota.

The movie was not dubbed well, Lo Lieh's voice-over actor sounded like he took a hit of helium before reading his lines. The music as stated above was all over the place and didn't always match up to the mood of the scene. The fight choreography was bad, with fists and kicks clearly missing their marks and not particularly inspired. Lo Lieh has shown in his other work that he was capable of much more. Van Cleef looked like he was having fun, having done this type of role many times before. He and Lo had good chemistry and made believable on-screen comrades in search of the treasure. Ultimately, it was their friendship that made this movie enjoyable for me.

If you are lactose intolerant, best to skip this movie as it is a 1970's cheese fest of the highest order and bare derrieres abound. Some of the gags were funny, others landed on their rear ends, much like the puns I've used in this review. Despite it's many drawbacks, the combination of Lee Van Cleef and Lo Lieh was enough to keep me entertained from beginning to tail end.

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A multiple car crash became an intersection of good guys, bad guys and those who could go either way. The impacting of lives resulted in tragedy and reverberated into the futures of all involved.

Beast Stalker is a suspenseful thriller that felt like it could have been better than it was. Hampered by a shaky camera that looked like they were filming during an earthquake, erratic close-ups, and choppy editing, it was hard to follow some of the action scenes without feeling nauseated. The actual car crash scene was done quite well, choreographed by Bruce Law, even if you could tell they were the only cars on the road.

The acting ranged from adequate to good. Nicholas Tse did a fine job portraying a dutiful cop whose actions led to a tragedy and the shattering personal and professional fallout resulting from it. Nick Cheung played the scarred villain on a collision course with Tse's cop. I honestly felt if he had been able to bring more nuance to his role as conflicted as his character was, it would have made his story arc more powerful. I was most impressed with Wong Suet Yin who played Ling, the prosecutor's youngest child. The daughter was kidnapped to force her mother to capitulate to the Big Bad's demands. Wong beautifully portrayed a little girl who never gave up and was resourceful in trying to rescue herself despite numerous setbacks.

Overall, too many characters took away from the central core of the story for me. In a thriller like this, the fewer characters the better, and the better to develop those few fully.

The film displayed how a fateful accident drove people to drastic measures both for good and evil which brought up the age old question, "Do the means justify the ends?"

Beast Stalker is not a bad film, just remember to take your Dramamine before you start it.

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A martial arts classic from the 1960's, this movie did not disappoint. Primitive by today's standards, it was cutting edge in its time.

I was reticent about watching this as I'm not a huge Jimmy Wang Yu fan nor Chang Cheh. To my surprise, I enjoyed this movie. Either lovingly restored or lovingly cared for it was sharp and vibrant. Those who have watched old kung fu movies know what I'm talking about. Some of them look like they've been drug over 20 miles of bad road. While most of the scenery was filmed on a lot, the sets were very nice to look at.

Most of the actors performed well for the time and genre. I was surprised to see Tien Feng and Ku Feng playing good guys, they usually played wicked men. Lisa Chiao Chiao, no stranger to holding a sword in a movie, played the gentle love interest with no desire for her man to ever pick up a sword again. Fortunately, her character just happened to have a secret book on how to fight left-handed hidden away and was able to give it to Wang's character after he lost his right arm and fell into a depression. This role fit Wang's screen personality like a glove and it made him famous.

The sword fights were typical of the time, with quite a few, uh, disarming scenes. Bloodier than movies that came before it, but not as bloody as Chang Cheh would make in the future, the fights were mostly entertaining.

The One Armed Swordsman excelled more in storyline and mood than in the actual fight scenes. The one-armed swordsman received a gift in his loss as he came to learn compassion and affection. Though he lost everything he knew, he gained a way out of the cycle of violence. For martial arts movie enthusiasts, it's a good one to watch in homage to the past and also to see how far these movies have come.

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They Didn't Come Home for Dinner!

Bruce Lee made a big splash in Hong Kong with The Big Boss. Set in the contemporary time, bloody, more realistic, and of course centered around Bruce Lee, it was something bold and new.

The story had plot holes and was weak despite a good idea. Ice dealers were also drug dealers which put the honorable men working at the ice house and unknowingly for the syndicate in danger. They found out soon enough, as one or two at a time were called into the boss' office and disappeared. These guys were not the sharpest knives in the drawer when it came to figuring out the danger lurking behind the big boss' gated mansion complete with guard dogs and endless armed minions. The only clue friends and family had that something untoward might have happened was that they didn't come home for dinner.

Most of the fights were brawls rather than martial arts conflicts. Cheng Chiu On (Bruce Lee) had taken a vow to not fight, why we don't know, and watched most of the action until the halfway mark in the movie. When the bodies started stacking up he finally decided to enter the fray, though for many it was too little too late. Most of the extras were slow and lumbering compared to Bruce when he took center stage and showed everyone how it was done. There is no overestimating the skill, quickness, and precision he displayed. Han Ying Chieh, the Big Bad, who also choreographed the fights was at least an able opponent in the final conflict.

The fights were brutal and bloody. It was one of the few times I've seen Bruce fight with weapons, aside from nunchaku, as he did in this one. Oddly, director and writer Lo Wei, inserted weirdly comedic moments in scenes at least somewhat grounded in realism. Wuxia flying guard dogs are not to be missed! There was also more wire work than I would have expected, completely unnecessary when dealing with a fighter the caliber of Bruce Lee.

James Tien also gave a notable performance early on as Cheng's friend, Hsu Chien, who tried to stand up for the workers. He had a light and spark that was entertaining to watch. For the most part, the rest of the acting was typical of old kung fu movies, stilted and weak.

Like many kung fu movies, the story was imperfect. The early fight scenes were also flawed. Once the real Big Boss stepped up, the movie became worthwhile for me. Bruce Lee had a grace, magnetism, beauty, and fluidity that I've never seen matched. It was worth sitting through the more stagnant parts of the movie to be able to watch him work.

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First we kill them, then we dump them!

If Bolo hadn't been in this movie, I would have seriously considered dumping it.

What I liked:
•Refreshingly this movie was set near the ocean where workers loaded and unloaded cargo for boats at the pier.
•Did I mention Bolo was in this movie? He's a favorite of mine and it was fun to watch him fight and snarl at people.
•Fong Yau gave a charismatic performance as a sadistic syndicate man, far out charming any of the good guys.
•Bolo and Huang Chung Hsin, and also Huang Chung Hsin and Leung Tin had brutal fights. Finally fighters went after the parts of the body that will stop a person---the arms and knees.
•I liked that they tried to show the emotional aftermath of a person who thought he had killed someone with his bare hands.

What I didn't care for:

•Michael Chan's performance was weak for me. I thought he came across as whiney instead of conflicted. After thinking he'd killed his girlfriend's brother he ran away and vowed never to fight again. Of course, he ended up in a place where people's lives were in danger because of a tyrannical boss and cowered in the back or was beaten senseless.
•I didn't like Michael Chan's windmill style of fighting very well.
•His girlfriend gave him what had to be the worst pep talk in the entire history of cinema when he was hiding out after some of his buddies and his girl had fought, been wounded, or died in a big battle with Bolo.
• The music was loud and dreadful, as were the fighting sound effects.
• With the exception of the fights involving Huang Chung Hsin I didn't think any of the fights were particularly inspired.

If you are a Bolo fan, it's worth sitting through this movie to watch him, he was in fine form.

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Hapkido aka Lady Kung Fu was jammed packed with kung fu legends. Starring Angela Mao, Sammo Hung, Carter Wong, and Hapkido expert Whang In Shik, the fighting and choreography did not disappoint.

Angela, Carter, and Sammo played Chinese citizens who studied Hapkido in Korea for five years until one day they had a little skirmish in a park with some Japanese guys harassing Angela. Forced to leave Korea they returned to China and opened up their own school. Unfortunately for them, the Japanese had also opened a dojo in their town and as happens in many of these movies, the Japanese were running roughshod over the locals and tried to close down the school. The trio's Hapkido master had preached patience at all costs which they tried to adhere to, but it only resulted in death after death. Finally, Angela had to take things into her own hands with a little help from Whang In Shik in the final fight to clear out the dojo.

The story was wafer thin, and if I'm being perfectly honest, a little annoying at times. I'm all for being kind and patient, but when dealing with murderous bullies, it will also get you killed. There was no character development or back stories, the characters were plopped into the story already statically formed.

What I did like, Angela Mao's character was fierce, decisive, and utterly ruthless. She was also a badass fighter. Hapkido had a wealth of talented martial artists in it and Sammo choreographed the fights with exquisite care. I bumped up my score because I have no complaints about the fast, furious, creative fights. And I have a real weakness for women who are not damsels in distress but take control of situations and handle them with the spirit of a warrior.

In the background as extras were Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao, and Yuen Wah. The extras were a who's who of martial artists bit players.

Hapkido is a kung fu classic because the fights are amazing and fun to watch. Sammo and Carter were young and quick. Angela Mao had real screen presence and was a delight to cheer for as she took care of business with her fists, kicks, and killer stare. If you enjoy old kung fu movies, this is one not to be missed.

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Fangorn Forest isn't the only place where you'd better not turn your back on the trees!

Shu Qi plays a detective trying to solve a rape-murder. Ekin Cheng plays a botanist who believes he can communicate with trees and is trying to prove it. His girlfriend, Rain Li, is a reporter using sensationalist stories about the numerous suicides and disappearances taking place in the forest to further her career. Shu Qi enlists Ekin Cheng to see if the trees can provide evidence in the case. Please don't stop reading, it gets better. Throw in that this is supposed to be taking place in Thailand with a Hong Kong cast and this movie is a real head scratcher. I won't even spoil it with the big reveal behind some of the spooky elements going on in the forest, but if you watch this movie, you may be like me and say, "sure, why not?" and just start laughing.

Full disclosure, I am a Shu Qi fan and she's why I started and didn't drop this movie. She gave a good performance, even if we never learned much about her character except that she is a doggedly determined detective. Ekin Cheng didn't have much to do except to occasionally talk to the trees and look at "scientific" equipment. Rain Li's reporter probably had the most development as she had to deal with her demanding boss and inattentive boyfriend.

Forest of Death does have some good moments of suspense and creepiness. The acting is all more than adequate. The story, however, adds in too many unbelievable elements. If they'd stuck to one fantastical element they could have built their mythology around it. Instead, they try to weave in too many supernatural stories into one and it ends up making for a vague and even ludicrous culmination.

Forest of Death could be another name for all the trees who gave their lives for the script pages of this murky, mess of a movie.

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Pour yourself a nice glass of wine and grab some crackers, because you'll need it to go with all of the cheese in this melodramatic movie. It's hard to take any movie seriously when it doubles as an advertisement for Sea World/Shamu or 'Free Willy Goes to Hong Kong'.

Kenny Bee stars as the 13th Prince who is deposed by his evil brother, the 14th Prince played by Kelvin Wong. I was happy to see Maggie Cheung as one of 13th Prince's bodyguards. 13th Prince and his small entourage are saved from a plethora of assassins in a bamboo forest by Andy Lau's fisherman, Ah Fei, who happens to be wandering about. They make friends and Ah Fei takes them to a secret underground royal tomb to hide out in. Ah Fei is tasked with bringing 13th Prince's fiancé to him. A gorgeous Anita Mui plays the willful Princess and on the long dangerous road back to the 13th Prince, feisty banter turns to love. Duty above all, everyone ignores the obvious feelings because 14th Prince is hot on their trail.

Moon Warriors has one of the most preposterous endings I've ever seen which takes away any tragic feelings and replaces them with laughter and WTF? This is not one of Andy's strongest performances, but I can't blame him, he's required to say some pretty cheesy lines. Maggie and Anita both do a good job with what they are given and their fight is the highlight of the movie. Kenny is properly stoic and noble. Kelvin has the evil laugh down which is half of what he needs for his performance as the villain. The actors could only do so much with the script they were given so I tried to cut them some slack.

The pinnacle of ludicrousness is Ah Fei's friendship with a killer whale. I do have to applaud Andy Lau for his commitment to the role and learning to ride and do tricks with Hong Kong's version of Shamu.

My evaluation of martial arts movies always comes down to the fights. Moon Warriors used so much wire-fu it looked like the actors were on the moon bouncing around half the time. I have no problem with light body skills in a wuxia, but this movie overdid the super human leaping never missing the chance to have someone flying through windows or simply defying gravity as they ran. While many of the fights were creative and fast, they often looked incredibly awkward as well. I do have to say I saw the most creative decapitation ever, at least through my fingers.

Moon Warriors has some beautiful cinematography and fight scenes every few minutes to keep things interesting. The actors gave it their best. Ultimately, it ended up being a slightly below average wuxia for me. It was filmed in the 90's so it didn't receive my grading on a curve that I give much older movies. It's not a bad way to spend 90 minutes but if you are lactose intolerant you might want to skip this one.

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Donnie Yen in a romantic comedy kung fu movie wearing a fat suit truly sounded like a train wreck idea. At times it felt more like a parody of kung fu movies and police movies. Amazingly, it succeeded for the most part.

The story is nonsensical, and started off slow, picking up steam when Donnie's character Fallon, had to transport a prisoner to Japan. I was bracing myself for a lot of fat jokes and fat shaming, thankfully, it didn't happen. Fallon had been demoted after destroying the police station in the process of catching a band of bank robbers. His girlfriend dumped him and at work he was exiled to the basement storage check-out. Like a lot of people might have done, he comforted himself with food and gained weight. When called into action in Japan he was still able to perform his moves, act courageously, and handle the dangerous situations. A lot of movies would have made him feel inadequate after gaining weight, not this movie, regardless of his weight he was still a good cop.

I thought it was funny in places, my husband laughed out loud through the whole thing. Maybe the Y chromosome helps to understand some of the humor.

The martial arts choreographers outdid themselves with creative and entertaining fights, with and without weapons. Donnie and his stunt double(s) made the action thrilling to watch. The choreographers designed fights often using whatever might be lying around, be it meat cleavers, frying pans, large tunas or a forklift. I'm used to seeing Godzilla tear up Tokyo Tower, this time Donnie and the Big Bad fought over Tokyo precariously kicking, fighting, and jumping above the brightly lit city.

Among the side characters I enjoyed the interpreter (Jessica Jann), she moved seamlessly between Japanese, Cantonese, and English with a ditzy flair. Wong Jing played the good-natured Thor, who was in love with a restaurant owner. Donnie had to come to the aid of his ex (Niki Chow) when she ended up in the clutches of the yakuza baddies. Love was definitely in the air!

Enter the Fat Dragon had action, humor, and a little romance. The story and action were fast. Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but was easy, breezy, and beautiful even at 250 pounds (113kg).

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Bruce Lee went to Hell and while there he ended up in a war against Dracula, James Bond, the Godfather, Clint Eastwood's 'Man with No Name', Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman, the Exorcist, a racy Emanuelle, zombie skeletons, and mummies! Don't worry though, because Bruce had Popeye, The One-armed Swordsman, and Kwai Chang Caine (from 1970's Kung Fu, the role that should have gone to Bruce) on his side!

This movie was bonkers, trashy, stupid, extremely low budget, everything I should have run from. Instead I was drawn to any movie with the above characters going at each other! Objectively speaking I should have rated it lower, but it was so bad that it was funny and I gave it a ratings bump.

The plot was completely illogical. The whole story was simply an excuse to have the biggest cross-over event in kung fu history. I had to watch a badly dubbed version. It sounded like one man did all the men's voices and they all sounded like they had thick New York (USA) accents except for the Exorcist who had an outrageous French accent (Monty Python joke). This version had also been cut several times and parts of the action didn't always show on the screen. Thankfully, there weren't subtitles or they would have run off the screen.

The fights were funny with bizarre sound effects. Bruce would call out the names of his movies for some of his moves. Zatoichi received a Fist of Fury in a very sensitive area.

Fair warning, there was quite a bit of female nudity in this movie. Unwanted and unneeded in the context it was shown. There was also a lot of talk about Bruce's "third leg". I'll leave it at that. In the double standard department, Bruce didn't even take his shirt off in the final battle. How were we supposed to know when he'd had enough and gotten serious?!? My guess is that Bruce Leung wasn't in good enough shape to take his shirt off.

This movie was awful, truly awful. It was also hysterically funny in places. If you can handle so bad it's good movies, this is one of those. It would benefit you to have a friend with an absurd sense of humor to watch it with and a big bowl of popcorn. Just don't expect any of it to make any sense.

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Twelve Gates of Hell falls into the so bad it's funny category. Just when you think it can't get any more ridiculous, Dragon Lee says, "Hold my beer."

Lee Wan and his father were on their way to meet up with his perspective wife when they were waylaid by evil doers working for the local tyrant. They met up with Lee's potential father-in-law who had been badly wounded by the evil doers for he had been carrying the secret list of rebels. The tyrant would stop at nothing to get his hands on that list including poisoning Lee and leaving him for dead. He was rescued by his future bride. Sadly, his leg had to be amputated to save his life. Happily, he remembered there was a secret book and technique to make a metal leg and the manual came complete with the 18 Kicks instructions! Time for revenge! Whee!

This movie was filmed with all the sophistication of a high school play and probably with the same budget. The fights of which there were many were not particularly inspired but thankfully, they weren't super slow. The few indoor sets were bargain basement finds or thrown together. The cinematography was primitive at best. Even though it was filmed in Korea, don't expect to see any historical Korean costumes, the costumes and wigs were standard 1970's fake Bruce Lee wigs, and bland kung fu wear. The sound effects could range from someone banging on a metal trashcan to 1970's sci-fi spaceship sounds. A twelve-year old on Tik Tok could have filmed some of the special effects better with a cell phone. The acting ranged from adequate to bad.

The outdoor scenes were filmed in Korea and showed a wide range of scenery, laughably all on what was supposed to be the same day at times, but still they were pretty. Mountain scenes with and without snow made good places to fight and ambush. The forest, or the ocean shore, or on the banks of a frozen river were all settings for flipping, kicking, and hitting. Oh, and blowing fire breath. And of course there were the four evil female attendants who could disappear and even more frighteningly----turn into clowns! The horror.

If it sounds like I'm making fun of the film...I am. Even Dragon Lee couldn't help himself from smirking and winking at the camera. Twelve Gates of Hell mercifully clocks in at under 90 minutes. If you are an old kung fu movie enthusiast who isn't afraid to laugh in all the wrong places, and you're feeling up for a challenge that might feel like traversing the 12 gates of hell, you might want to give this one a try. Otherwise best to change the channel with the speed of the changing scenery in this movie.

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Shaolin is a strange amalgam of ruthless warlords, peaceful Shaolin beliefs, greed, betrayal, and redemption.

Andy Lau played the deadly and thoroughly unlikeable warlord, Hou Jie. Because he was the star I knew he wasn't going to get killed in all of the dirty double-crosses early in the movie, but I have to say I was rooting for him to get his. Fortunately for me, I didn't receive that early catharsis, instead after a vicious confrontation with forces ordered to assassinate him, he managed to crawl away to the Shaolin temple.

This movie leaned heavily into Buddhist beliefs or at least movie Buddhist beliefs. Jackie Chan showed up as a cook working at the temple conflicted as to whether he should stay or go. He's there primarily for some light comic relief as you can imagine. Yu Hai played the Abbott, he was also in Jet Li's Martial Arts of Shaolin, playing a Shaolin master. He showed the most beautiful Mantis fighting in MAOS, I was desperately hoping to see him show the style again. Alas, he did fight a little (he was much older in 2011) but no Mantis.

The cinematography and sets were beautiful. Certainly no complaints for me on these aspects of the movie. I'm not one to notice music in movies very often, but the OST was quite pleasing.

Shaolin's story used a common kung fu movie pattern only amping up the destruction, body count, and explosions. Long time kung fu movie enthusiasts will be able to call what's coming next without much trouble.. The story was told well and ultimately, it was a story of redemption. That's usually all I need to be hooked. I'm not sure Hou Jie earned his redemption in such a short time, but movie magic makes everything move more quickly.

This is my favorite Andy Lau performance yet. He had to dig down deep to convey the myriad of emotions for this complicated character. Nicholas Tse as his younger brother did a good job, too.

The fights were where they began to lose me. I have no problem with wire-fu when used well. In a movie that is otherwise more realistic, the over-the-top use of wire work seemed badly out of place. The super human abilities of only a few characters weren't consistent either. Taking the martial arts and wire-fu out of the equation in the action scenes, some of the scenes were on a grand scale and spectacular.

I found Shaolin to be well made and entertaining. There were moments when it felt like it could have been better though.

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After watching dozens of martial arts movies I decided to revisit this classic. Even though it followed the revenge theme fairly closely and the antipathy toward Japanese occupiers, Fist of Fury stepped away from the pack in terms of quality. Though the majority of sets were indoors or on the lot, they were beautifully crafted and believable as real homes and dojos for the most part, especially given the budget.

When Bruce Lee’s Chen Zhen returned home to find out his master was murdered, he did not take it well. In Fist of Fury all the Japanese were EVIL, there was no nuance which seemed like a missed opportunity for story depth. Bruce stacked the bodies up during his rampage to avenge his master. Most kung fu movies have a revenge theme, Fist of Fury leaned into it---hard. Bruce did have some say in how he wanted the movie to end, to show that crime and killing doesn’t pay. The story was definitely a step up from most kung fu revenge stories.

I’ve always felt Bruce Lee was better at conveying rage in his fights or staring down his opponents with an intensity born of confidence in himself, here he also showed real tenderness in his scenes with Yuan Li Er (Nora Miao), the woman Chen had returned to Shanghai for in order to marry. At his master’s funeral, they touched hands in a way that only lovers do, sweetly and sensually. As always, he was beautiful and compelling. There’s no denying he had real magnetism.

Books have been written about Bruce Lee’s fighting skills and I have nothing significant to add. All I will say is that he was lightning fast and amazing to watch. After scrutinizing other martial artists in movies, I have to say he is still the best. And that’s saying something, because for me, there are few things better than martial arts movies with Jet Li, Donnie Yen, or Gordon Liu.

As I’ve said in previous reviews, I don’t watch kung fu movies for the story or acting, it all comes down to the fights and the beginning fight with Bruce clearing out a dojo and the final fights were magnificent. Fist of Fury was not a perfect film, but it was entertaining and bittersweet, knowing how few films Bruce Lee would make.

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The Five Venoms team up again to battle each other in a twisty-turny fight over a gold shipment being escorted to famine starved villagers. When you see bare male chests and fighters in silver lamé you know you are watching a Chang Cheh extravaganza.

The Venoms are likeable enough. Sun Chien plays the inexperienced head of the escort crew. Phillip Kwok is the drunken sheriff who stumbles in and out of the fights helping the escorts. The bad guys were quite the colorful group as they dressed to match their names-Silver Spear, Iron Armor, Copper Head, and Golden Arms. Lo Meng, as the Kid with the Golden Arms, is the head bad guy with stacked golden bracelets and boots and vest to match. They may have been lethal but they were a stylish bunch.

It's a Chang Cheh movie which means there are double-crosses, big body counts, blood, and plenty of fighting. There were far fewer dismemberments and spurting arteries this time thankfully.

I had hoped I would enjoy The Kid with the Golden Arm more than I did, but for me it always comes down to the fights. I don't expect much out of the story or the acting. The fights in TKWTGA were the slow, staged, dancy, posing fights I don’t enjoy much. Sometimes Chang Cheh makes the fights so outlandish that they are entertaining in their own way in his movies. Not here. I found myself looking at my watch. Never a good sign. The movements were slow, over and under shooting their marks regularly as if they thought their opponent was taller than he was. The timing was often off in jumps and ducks. Philip Kwok and Chiang Sheng (Short Ax) are spectacularly acrobatic fighters though too often the back and front flips were pointless in the duels.

If you love The Five Venoms or Chang Cheh movies or slow stop action fighting, this is one to give a try, other-wise let the buyer beware.

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Moral conundrum, it's not okay to feed a worm to a baby bird to keep it alive, thus killing the worm, but it is okay to murder a despot. I wasn't the only one confused by the Shaolin ethical dilemma of killing, though it didn't take the monks long to figure out where they stood.

Jet Li played the Shaolin monk, Zhi Ming, from one of the northern schools. When he hears that the tyrant who killed his parents is having an extravagant birthday bash, he determines it's time to take a short vacation from martial arts training and meditating to kill the man. Little does he know that two members of the southern Shaolin school with a grudge against the evil Big Bad have chosen the same event for their assassination attempt. One of the southern Shaolin would be assassins was a woman dressed as a man which I've ceased to have a problem with after watching a number of kung fu movies and Cdramas. She of course, has a childhood connection to Zhi Ming. The three don costumes to perform in the lion dance spectacle only managing to get in each other's way and failing in their mission. They managed to escape together arguing and fighting until it became tedious. Fortunately, once they realized they were all part of the larger Shaolin family the bickering toned down.

The early "comedic" parts were a bit tiring for me. The plot development was also extremely sparse, leaving huge gaps in the storytelling. I wanted to tell everyone to take a deep breath as the pacing was frenetic at times as well. People ran everywhere, horses were sped up, every movement outside of the fights made it seem as if the actors' pants were on fire. Sometimes the audience needs a little "white space" to process the story and take a breath along with the actors. My other complaint with this movie is the OST. The same awful music is repeated ad nauseum until it made my ears bleed. I've truly never heard a worse soundtrack in a kung fu movie, any movie for that matter.

A favorite of mine, Lau Kar Leung, directed this Chinese movie with a Shaw Brothers crew and it showed. With the exception of the stunning mainland China outdoors scenery including the Great Wall and temples, this felt like it could be a Hong Kong production. I imagine Lau Kar Leung was thrilled to be able to choreograph fight scenes for Jet Li and the extremely capable actors/martial artists in this film. There was very little wire or trampoline work, the huge fight scenes were executed with grace and finesse. The fists, kicks, and swords were swift and accurate. The story was secondary in every way to the incredible fight choreography. Jet Li was in his prime and most likely had to slow his movements for the camera to pick them up, they were shockingly fast as it was. I loved the mantis fighting near the end of the movie.

I wouldn't recommend Martial Arts of Shaolin for the music, story, or acting, but the fight scenes and a lightning-fast Jet Li are definitely worth the price of admission for any kung fu enthusiast.

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