Shaolin Review

Shaolin

Chinese Title: 新少林寺

Althernative Title: The New Shaolin Temple

Genre: Action, Drama

Language: Chinese

Year: 2011

Synopsis:

Hou Jie (Andy Lau) is a merciless warlord who thinks mostly about his own benefits. When he defeats Huo Long (Chen Zhihui) in a battle, the latter seeks refuge to a Shaolin temple. Despite the monks’ request for Hou Jie to let his fallen enemy go, Hou Jie still kills Huo Long. Before Hou Jie’s exit, he sees the temple’s fallen board at the gate. Taking out his calligraphy brush, he adds the line “nothing out of ordinary” on the board, thus, insulting the monks.

Envious of his sworn brother Song Hu (Shi Xiaohong), Hou Jie devises a plan to murder him. Hou Jie’s deputy Cao Man (Nicholas Tse), who holds a grudge against him, takes this opportunity to assassinate his superior and his family. Hou Jie shoots Song Hu, but when Cao Man’s hired assassins arrive, Song Hu saves Hou Jie despite the latter’s betrayal. Hou Jie barely escapes with his fatally wounded daughter while his wife (Fan Bing Bing) is saved by the monks (Xing Yu and Yu Shaoqun) who happen to be there.

Desperate to save his dying daughter, Hou Jie runs to the temple to ask for the monks’ help. However, he is a bit too late. His daughter’s injuries are too serious. She dies and Hou Jie blames the monks for not saving her. His wife, angry at Hou Jie for everything he did, leaves him.

Hou Jie meets the Shaolin cook Wu Dao (Jackie Chan). While he mourns over his daughter’s death, Wu Dao feeds him. As Hou Jie thinks about his past deeds, he is filled with remorse. He cuts his hair and tells Wu Dao he decides to become a monk.

Cheerfulnuts’ Review:

With a great cast, the new Shaolin movie seems promising. It is. I’m happy to say that it didn’t let me down. The fighting scenes are superb. The team did the right thing for casting actors who know about martial arts.

Shaolin focuses on Hou Jie’s character development. Andy Lau succeeded in showing how terrible Hou Jie was in the first part of the film and how or why he had turned over new leaf. Viewers can easily see why Cao Man despises him so much. The characters are convincing and the plot works.

Jackie Chan’s fans might get mixed feelings with his “mere” special appearance in Shaolin. Some might get disappointed for the very limited fighting scenes he had. Others might be happy for the new image he had shown in his character. In my opinion, Jacky Chan’s Wu Dao is a likeable character, as his characters have always been in his movies. His presence made the movie much more amusing.

I used to regard Nicholas Tse as a teen idol. Since I saw his Deng Sidi in Bodyguards and Assassins (2009), my outlook of him changed. My respect for him as an actor grew, and I expected that he would give an outstanding performance in Shaolin. He didn’t fail me. Though his Cao Man is not as good as his Deng Sidi, he has portrayed his character well. Cao Man did annoy and scare me.

The downside of Shaolin is it focuses too much on religion. It’s not exactly a bad thing, but viewers with different beliefs should be prepared when watching this film. Since it involves monks, Buddhism is profusely instilled to the audience.

Overall, I like the movie. It has excellent casting, superb acting, engaging story, impressive action scenes, and an amazing soundtrack as well!

Cheerfulnuts’ Verdict:

9 out of 10 stars

Related Products: