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Shaolin and Wu Tang

Shaolin and Wu Tang

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: ATTENTION KUNGFU NUTTS!!!!
Review: A MUST HAVE FOR A KUNGFU MOVIE COLLECTION. I ONLY WISH I HAD BOUGHT IT ON DVD. IF YOU ARE THINKING OF BUYING AND HAVENT SAW IT YET, DONT WORRY YOU WILL LOVE THIS ONE!!!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Better Than Nothing
Review: I gave it 4 stars because the DVD quality looks so much like a direct transfer from VHS. Additionally, the subtitles don't match the spoken English dialog. However, the action is quite good and on par with any Shaw Brothers productions by Chang Cheh or Liu Chia Liang. The best fights are at the end when the main stars develop their own combinations of the Chin Kang Fist with Wu Tang Sword techniques and try to outdo each other.

SPOILER: Gordon Liu uses broadsword techniques instead of Straight Sword techniques and Adam Cheng uses Phoenix Eye Fist for empty hand Wu Tang Sword techniques.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "The Shaolin and the Wu Tang could be dangerous"...
Review: 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..."

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: shaolin shadow boxing, and the wu tang sword style...
Review: 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.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Solid Film
Review: Shaolin and Wu Tang is truly a classic of the kungfu genre, and a very well made film. I found this film to be slightly different from many other kungfu films because it seemed heavily influenced by wuxia films, or swordplay dramas, and the film generally flowed better and had better acting that most kungfu movies. The story was also very interesting, and the fight scenes were always part of the plot, they were not put in randomly as they are in some kungfu movies. The film was very well produced and directed (by Gordon Liu), which made the film interesting even for those who do not like the traditional style of kungfu movies.

The story of this film was good and contained many interesting points. Here is a simplified synopsis of the plot: Two friends (Gordon Liu & Adam Cheng) who are students of the Shaolin and Wu Tang (WuDang) kungfu styles, are turned against each other by the Manchurian villian (Wang Lung-Wei). The villian does this because he is threatened by the power of these styles of kungfu, and he wants both schools destroyed, so he turns the two rival schools against each other.

The choreography in this film stands out-- it is very fast and fluid, and the moves flow together and match perfectly. This film is one of Wang Lung-Wei's best, his kungfu in this film is very solid. Idy Chan was also very good, I have not seen her in any other films, but she certainly matches Gordon Liu and Adam Cheng is both acting and kungfu. I found the acting by all the stars in this film to better and more subtle than in their other films, and better than most films in the genre. Overall this film was very well made and has all the elements of a good film as well as a good kungfu film.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Good Example Of Oldschool Kung Fu
Review: 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.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Never teach the Wu-Tang!
Review: This movie was kick #$%! 3 clans involved. A wu-tang master is poisoned for not revealing the secrets to wu-tang,and his student is tricked into thinking that he killed his own master. He's locked up for it. In the meantime, a friend of his, a shaolin fighter, seeks refuge with some monks and learns their style. Awesome fight scenes! Then the shaolin and the wu-tang schools are tricked into fighting each other! and these two friends are forced to fight at the end against their will. Uh oh! watch those 2 fingers young student! Never teach the wu-tang! This movie will be a nice addition to your collection! pick up Shaolin and Wu-tang part 2 ! that movie has some killer fight scenes!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Wu Tang Forever!
Review: This was the first of the Wu Tang Clan series that I saw, and is still by far the best! It combines extraordinary coreography during the fight scenes with a wild plot. Getting to hear all the classic lines used on the Wu Tang Clan albums was way sic as well. I definatly recommend this movie for any old skool or new kung fu flick fans.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Perfect, Excellent, Great....5 stars
Review: Through the first half of the movie, I thought it was going to be your standard, nothing special, old school Kung Fu flick. But I was very wrong.

Once the two main characters get separated, receive additional training, then meet together at the end. The level of the movie shoots through the ceiling.

The story of course is pretty strait line, but the characters are well done and developed nicely. The story, though strait line, came together in the end.

As I stated above, the final 20 minutes of the movie upgraded this from a 4 star movie, to a perfect 5 star. The last fight scene is exquisite.

This is a can't miss movie, and a must own in your DVD collection.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Perfect, Excellent, Great....5 stars
Review: Through the first half of the movie, I thought it was going to be your standard, nothing special, old school Kung Fu flick. But I was very wrong.

Once the two main characters get separated, receive additional training, then meet together at the end. The level of the movie shoots through the ceiling.

The story of course is pretty strait line, but the characters are well done and developed nicely. The story, though strait line, came together in the end.

As I stated above, the final 20 minutes of the movie upgraded this from a 4 star movie, to a perfect 5 star. The last fight scene is exquisite.

This is a can't miss movie, and a must own in your DVD collection.


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