will91XingYu
11-12-2007, 11:35 AM
Hi it's Will91XingYu with another review, this time it's my follow up review to Lau Kar Leung's 1978 film 36th Chamber of Shaolin, the film i'm reviewing is Lau Kar Leung's 1980 sequal Return to the 36th Chamber. The film stars Gordon Liu, Hsiao Ho, Wang Lung Wei and Chiang Tao. The film is much lighter and comical than the first but it works in the films favour, also this has way superior fight scenes than the original.
Gordon Liu again stars but not as San Te from the first film, here he plays a conman who pretends to be a monk, when a local dying mill is overun by evil gangsters (led by Wang Lung Wei- Martial Club, Two Toothless Tigers) they look to Gordon Liu's charecter for help. Of course not knwoing any real kung fu he is beaten up, he then runs of to the shaolin temple where he is asked by San Te(Ching Chu- Martial Club, Treasure hunters) to put up the temple scaffolding, where with out knwoing Gordon Liu learns scaffolding kung fu!
When he has finished putting up the scaffolding, he is asked to take it all down, enraged thinking it's a joke, Gordon leaves the temple to get revenge on the evil gangsters once and for all. This is another great kung fu comedy from the master that is Lau Kar Leung, although lighter in tone i feel it is a better film than the first one in terms of action, but the two films are really different and not much point comparing them.
What is important for me was the pacing, i didn't like the pacing of the first one as the training scenes bogged down the film, here although the training scenes involving the scaffolding are fun and inventive they again get a bit boring. This is a minor complaint, as the two fights at the end are amazing. While Lo Lieh, Wilson Tong and John Cheung are great bad guys, here Lau got in more legendary bad guys. First of we have korean superkicker Kwan Young Moon (My Young Auntie, Project A), this guy shows great kicks, and was used by Lau again in My Young Auntie where he has a great fight with Hsiao Ho, after these films he would go and work with Sammo Hung at golden harvest.
Chang Yi Tao (Shaolin Diciples, Tiger Over Wall) is great and shows solid shapes against Gordon Liu, another guy who i was suprised at being in a shaws film is Philip Cheung or Bruce Lai, he had starred in Dragon on Fire along side Dragon Lee, he also went to Korea to do films such as Dragon Lee's Ways of Kung Fu, for me his best moment was fighting Lo Rei at the end of Super Ninja. Philip Cheung was a great kicker but dosn't show them off here instead he's using a pole and looks good, the best fight comes in the dying mill, when Kwan Young Moon uses his kicks against the scaffolding kung fu of Gordon Liu.
Then for the main end fight, we have a classic match up Gordon Liu vs. Wang Lung Wei, here the bad guys use wooden benches that fold in (hard to explain), here Gordon Liu shows off his great martial arts skills, as they fight in the scaffolding of the temple, it's a great end fight as it uses loads of fun and cool ideas, although great fun it dosn't deliver everything and i'll explain why.
For me the main annoyance about the film is the fact that two of Lau's faviroute prodiges Hsiao Ho (Mad Monkey Kung fu and Disciples of the 36th Chamber) and Kara Hiu (My Young Auntie, New Tales of Flying Fox) don't get any action! It's a great waste! Also venom Wei Pak has a role but dosn't get any action either, for me a shout out has to go to Ching Chu who was assistant action coreographer with Hsiao Ho on nearlly all of Lau's later shaws films, he shows off a few of his skills here, it's a shame he didn't get bigger fighting roles in movies.
This film is a must see, Gordon Liu is again brilliant in this movie, with good support from Hsiao Ho (his comedy is funny in this film) and Kara Hiu and with so many great bad guys like Wang Lung Wei and Kwan Young Moon all getting great fights this has to be seen! I really enjoyed it although some of the training can get a bit broing for me personally, i'll have my review for the next in the trilogy Disciples of the 36th Chamber with Hsiao Ho and Gordon Liu up in the next few days. Thanks for reading.
4.5/5
Gordon Liu again stars but not as San Te from the first film, here he plays a conman who pretends to be a monk, when a local dying mill is overun by evil gangsters (led by Wang Lung Wei- Martial Club, Two Toothless Tigers) they look to Gordon Liu's charecter for help. Of course not knwoing any real kung fu he is beaten up, he then runs of to the shaolin temple where he is asked by San Te(Ching Chu- Martial Club, Treasure hunters) to put up the temple scaffolding, where with out knwoing Gordon Liu learns scaffolding kung fu!
When he has finished putting up the scaffolding, he is asked to take it all down, enraged thinking it's a joke, Gordon leaves the temple to get revenge on the evil gangsters once and for all. This is another great kung fu comedy from the master that is Lau Kar Leung, although lighter in tone i feel it is a better film than the first one in terms of action, but the two films are really different and not much point comparing them.
What is important for me was the pacing, i didn't like the pacing of the first one as the training scenes bogged down the film, here although the training scenes involving the scaffolding are fun and inventive they again get a bit boring. This is a minor complaint, as the two fights at the end are amazing. While Lo Lieh, Wilson Tong and John Cheung are great bad guys, here Lau got in more legendary bad guys. First of we have korean superkicker Kwan Young Moon (My Young Auntie, Project A), this guy shows great kicks, and was used by Lau again in My Young Auntie where he has a great fight with Hsiao Ho, after these films he would go and work with Sammo Hung at golden harvest.
Chang Yi Tao (Shaolin Diciples, Tiger Over Wall) is great and shows solid shapes against Gordon Liu, another guy who i was suprised at being in a shaws film is Philip Cheung or Bruce Lai, he had starred in Dragon on Fire along side Dragon Lee, he also went to Korea to do films such as Dragon Lee's Ways of Kung Fu, for me his best moment was fighting Lo Rei at the end of Super Ninja. Philip Cheung was a great kicker but dosn't show them off here instead he's using a pole and looks good, the best fight comes in the dying mill, when Kwan Young Moon uses his kicks against the scaffolding kung fu of Gordon Liu.
Then for the main end fight, we have a classic match up Gordon Liu vs. Wang Lung Wei, here the bad guys use wooden benches that fold in (hard to explain), here Gordon Liu shows off his great martial arts skills, as they fight in the scaffolding of the temple, it's a great end fight as it uses loads of fun and cool ideas, although great fun it dosn't deliver everything and i'll explain why.
For me the main annoyance about the film is the fact that two of Lau's faviroute prodiges Hsiao Ho (Mad Monkey Kung fu and Disciples of the 36th Chamber) and Kara Hiu (My Young Auntie, New Tales of Flying Fox) don't get any action! It's a great waste! Also venom Wei Pak has a role but dosn't get any action either, for me a shout out has to go to Ching Chu who was assistant action coreographer with Hsiao Ho on nearlly all of Lau's later shaws films, he shows off a few of his skills here, it's a shame he didn't get bigger fighting roles in movies.
This film is a must see, Gordon Liu is again brilliant in this movie, with good support from Hsiao Ho (his comedy is funny in this film) and Kara Hiu and with so many great bad guys like Wang Lung Wei and Kwan Young Moon all getting great fights this has to be seen! I really enjoyed it although some of the training can get a bit broing for me personally, i'll have my review for the next in the trilogy Disciples of the 36th Chamber with Hsiao Ho and Gordon Liu up in the next few days. Thanks for reading.
4.5/5