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Karate at its best if you can get past the poor quality audio and video!
Movie Reviews
Shaolin shadow boxing, and the wu tang sword style...
Ian Riggins | Fairfax Station, VA United States | 05/24/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)
"other reviewers have already said a lot about the film, so i'll just say it's a classiz kung fu flick with some great kung fu fights (gordon liu hell yeah), a standard revenge/betrayal plot, a weird ending, and some limited but interesting background into the shaolin and wu tang rivalry/relationship.so all right, what i'll talk about is this DVD release (the only reason i'm rating the film 4 stars instead of its deserved 5). well, these xenon released of classic kung fu films tend to suck pretty bad in quality, and this one really isn't an exception. the dubbing is awful (but pretty hilarious), and for some reason there are both english and chinese imbedded subtitles at the bottom of the screen. the subtitles are white and hard to read at times, and a bit of the right and left edges of the frame were cropped in the video transfer so the subtitles often get cut off too. the english subtitles are also horribly translated in relation to the english dubbing... they rarely match up at all. (some of my favorite translation errors... dubbing says: "they really do hurt. they went right through me. i'm really in a lot of pain." while subtitles say: "the arrows make me feel uncomfortable." ......... dubbing says: "you'll be avenged!" while subtitles say: "we'll be enemies forever!" ha ha ha)also, as a result of the edges of the frame being cropped, there's often a bit of action cut, both in fighting scenes and dialogue scenes. still, if this is the only version of the dvd you can get, its worth it since it's such an aweosme movie."
"The Shaolin and the Wu Tang could be dangerous"...
N. B. | Long Island, NY | 04/01/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I have owned this film on VHS for a long time, and it is still one of the best. THIS IS CLASSIC OLD SCHOOL KUNG FU. Gordon Liu is just great in this one. Watch closely at the fight scences, expecally towards the end. This has Amazing choreography! Gordon Liu plays a shaolin practitioner who is forced to fight his best friend who studies the Wu Tang Sword Style, but there is so much more. The training sequences are good, not so much in depth like Master Killer though. The fights are great and this is a TRUE CLASSIC which to this day I watch over and over again and still enjoy it. This is a MUST have for any fan of Kung Fu movies or Kung Fu practitionor.
This is the film that the Wu-Tang Clan took most of their samples from for "the 36 chambers album". You will see why.
" ...A game of chess is like a sword fight, you must think first before you move...""
A Good Example Of Oldschool Kung Fu
Ian Riggins | 03/20/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This is a typical 70s/80s kung fu movie. It takes place around the same time that most other movies of the time did. It has most of the same types of costumes and characters that they all do. They are even played by the same actors that most of these movies. There isn't anything about it that really stands out from the croud. However, this is a solid movie, with solid action by everyone involved.The story revvolves around two friends who are students of opposing schools. One is Shaolin (Gordon Liu), and the other is from Wu Tang (the beginning shows how Wu Tang seperated from Shaolin way back when). A majistrate of the area wants to learn both of their styles, but they refuse to teach him. So he pits both schools against each other so that he can use deception to steal their tecniques as they fight each other, as well as to see which style works best. In the end the two students are forced to switch styles to survive the final battle.It has the usual fair of fighting, betrayal, fighting, training, more fighting, and of course fighting (it wouldn't be a kung fu movie without all that fighting now would it? ;) ) and Gordon Liu is as talented as ever. It is one of his better movies, and is a pleasure to watch, despite being average in most of its content.If you are as much of a fan of kung fu as I am (hell, I'm taking classes three days a week), than I would suggest picking it up. It is a fine addition to your collection. If you are starting up your collection, and already have a few movies, it is still a good buy. However, if you have only seen the Matrix movies and think that this is the nest step, I would suggest getting Master Killer, or Legend of Drunken boxer before seeing this."
AWESOME...
PAL | UK | 05/28/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"old school kung fu at its best. Gordon liu , and adam cheng take the lead roles as two freinds who fight each other beacuse of their schools. Im not sure if the great shaw director leang kar leang directed this completly or it was a joint effort with gordon liu. But it is the work of liu , and great it is. The action is fast and superb , and the plot is nice. Wu tangs rivalary with shaolin is fanned and they both fight each other. The downside is the subtitiles and maybe the volume /sound which is low .But i have the vengence video dvd version[im not sure if its the same quality as this]
But for old school fans this is nothing but greateness from shaw brothers team."
The game of chess is like a swordfight... you always get sta
Mantis Lake | Detroit, MI USA | 03/01/2008
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Now I finally know where all those old-school quotes from the first Wu-Tang Clan album came from, a film that was written/amalgamated from elements of other, superior Gordon Liu flicks. There are some inevitable comparisons with "Instructors of Death" and "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin". This one has lots of well-choreographed fights. The opening credits are amazing. Unfortunately, the rest of the film fails to outdo said credits. That's a bummer, and in my opinion, should never happen.
Gordon Liu directed and plays a Shaolin student who is good friends with Adam Cheng, a Wu-Tang student. Their masters are kind of snooty with one another, and talk about sparring, but never do it. Some obligatory Manchu jerk (Johnny Wang) wants to learn the secrets of their styles, but the respective masters will not reveal them. Angry, Mr. Wang poisons the Wu-Tang leader to blackmail him into giving him their manual. When it doesn't work, Adam Cheng takes the fall for the master's death and goes to prison with a bunch of psychotic ladies who always bogart his share of the rice. Gordon and his sister break him out. Soon after, his sister is killed by the Manchus as the dudes from Wu-Tang are taking away Adam Cheng to punish him for the death of the master. There are no Manchus at the death scene and Gordo assumes it was Wu-Tang who killed his sister. Then Johnny Wang orders that the two schools have a competition in the hopes of further dividing them and learning their techniques.
This version from Xenon says "Digitally Remastered" but I'm a little skeptical. Perhaps they lack the equipment that Celestial has. The picture quality is not bad and more than watchable, but some of the night shots will have you squinting to see the action. The movie is still pretty good and I would have to recommend it to old-schoolers. Just because the story is silly and the fights never get better than the opening sequence doesn't mean the rest of the film ain't worth watching. English dubbed only and full-screen.