That great little Asian cinema label that seems to kicking all sorts of Asian ass with it's brilliant releases brings another unmissable film to the British public with it's release of SHAOLIN. please check out my review after the jump....!!!!!WARNING: SPOILER ALERT!!!!
While I adore martial arts films I am more of a noob when it comes to Shaolin martial arts and the idea of achieving a Zen status, im more of the John Woo school of action film making so I'm not overly familiar with the period films that come out of Asia which is why I decided on Shaolin, The new film from Benny Chan (Invisible Target) which stars two of my favourite Asian actors, Andy Lau and Jackie Chan. So I sat down prepared to get bored by the film but the truth is I was grabbed by it straight away.Shaolin follows the story of ruthless general Hou in turn of the 20th century china. After being betrayed by his friend and his right hand and losing his family Hou finds solace within the Shaolin temple where be learns to release all of his hate and be at peace with himself while Cao Man (his right hand) takes over his reign to build an invincible army.
Obviously I do not want to give too much of the plot away as we'd be in spoiler territory then and would be pointless you buying the disc. However, viewers expecting a full blooded martial arts extravaganza will be sorely disappointed as this is more a dramatic film than a slap bang thank you mam kind of kung fu flick, it deals with themes of regret, death, finding inner peace and redemption played out in a war movie environment. Of course there are brilliantly choreographed fight scenes courtesy of the ever incredible Cory Yuen (The Transporter). But it's the dramatic edge to the film that really stood out for me. Andy Lau's journey from ruthless determined general to shaven headed Zen monk and the trials that make him this way is truly remarkable. But unlike films such as Iron Monkey or Fong Sai Yuk, which I find do over use the Wire work, here it is used sparingly as the fights tend to more of the hand to hand variety or the use of Staffs which adds a considerable amount of realism to the film. Don't get me wrong there is a healthy does of Wire fu in here but nowhere near the levels of say Detective Dee. There is one incredible action set piece in the film that wouldn't look out of place in an Indiana Jones movie and involves a chase along a mountain trail with horse and carts.
But the good thing about Shaolin is that it doesn't rely on action to move the story along, the film which clocks in at 125mins flys by and I believe this is due to the mesmerising and incredibly powerful central performance from Andy Lau, the scenes of him coming to terms with the death of his daughter is something truly astonishing and it's no wonder that this man is held in such high regard in Asian cinema. It's one of those performances that has you disliking him from point A but by the time you get to point Z you really feel for him, for his journey, for what he lost and what he gave up to become the man he is at the end of the film and for me this is what got me hooked. Now I wasn't that fair in my review for Detective Dee, yes I found the film over long and abit of a mess but Lau's performance in that was terrific and brought to mind Robert Downey Jr's Sherlock Holmes performance (which I really disliked) but ulike that performance I found Dee a watchable character. It was if he was on a different level and in Shaolin, he's on a completely different level altogether. Just an outstanding performance.
The same can't be said about Nicholas Tse, who as an actor I really dig, I thought he was brilliant in Time and Tide and in Dante Lam's The Beast Stalker, but he seemed a bit miss cast here, I don't think he made a very good villain. But while he wasn't that menacing he was still pretty good. I really do recommend the two films I mentioned.
Jackie Chan shows up as the temple cook and the man who takes Andy Lau in, You can clearly see that Jackie is getting on in his age as he's avoids the kung foolery but is the sort of guiding light that Lau needs. I love Jackie and I know a lot of people do too and I wouldn't care if he stopped all the ass kickery as long as he just carried on making movies. The Shinjuku Incident is probably one of his best roles and there isn't a Jackie kick to be seen, so as long he carries on acting it's fine. Here he brings a much need light heartedness to the story, not in a slapstick or comedic way but in a tension break way, when stuff goes bad, a smiley Jackie shows up and you everything's going to work out. Not his biggest role but im glad he's making proper films back in his homeland and not starring in any old crap produced by Hollywood where he is unfortunately wasted.
Benny Chan's direction takes on a rather epic scope for this film, probably for me his most accomplished film (that I have seen). The scenes of war and the destruction of the temple are breath taking. It takes on this grandiose Ridley Scott scope of epicness (if that's the correct term) and gives the film a fitting finale. He also gives us one of the most striking images I have ever seen in an asian film that includes Lau and the hands of a giant statue of Buddah.
So with that I come to the end of the review of the film.
I went into Shaolin with the prospect of being completely bored and what I found was that with it's powerful performances, gripping story line and excellent set pieces, a brilliantly crafted film. I cannot praise Andy Lau's performance any more than I already have, it's just brilliant. That mixed with Benny Chan's excellent direction and the phenomenal fight choreography from Corey Yuen made Shaolin a joy to watch. I highly recommend this film for fans of Asian martial arts cinema, fans of war movies and even fans of Edward Zwick's The Last Samurai which I was repeatedly reminded of through out the film, although Lau is a far better actor than Tom Cruise. A brilliant effort from one of the most exciting directors in Hong Kong today.
THE DISC
As usual Cine-Asia pull out all the stops for this release by giving us another great double disc edition with a cavalcade of extras to accompany the film.
First of the film comes with two audio option, The Dolby Digital Mandarin 5.1 and english 5.1 audio tracks that are both clear and sound great, the customary English subtitles of course come too.
As with most releases, Hong Kong cinema expert Bey Logan chimes in with an informative commentary and a making of gallery that has not 1, not 5, but 9 featurettes covering everything from the recreation of the Shaolin temple to a look at Buddhism and the idea of Zen.
We also get an interview gallery that has 15 interviews with stars and crew.
Another brilliant disc from Cine-Asia that carries on the good name of a great British label.
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