If you are not familiar with Chinese cinema then "Shaolin" could be a good movie to start out with as an introduction to the wonderful world of Chinese cinema. It has lot of action, a phenomenal assembly of acting talents, a good story and nicely choreographed martial arts.I have been putting off watching "Shaolin" for a long, long time after I had purchased this movie from Amazon. A thing that turned out to be a mistake on my behalf, because this really is a good movie. And of course it would be very unlikely not to be good with Andy Lau in the leading part.I bought this movie for two reasons; the first reason was, of course, Andy Lau, and the second reason being that this is a Chinese martial arts drama."Shaolin" also has a small role for martial arts legend Jackie Chan, and even in a supporting small role he shines, and really did add his usual charms and charisma to the movie.I enjoyed "Shaolin" quite a lot and was genuinely surprised at captivating the story was and how good director Benny Chan is at telling a story to the audience.If you enjoy Asian cinema then you most definitely should take the time to watch "Shaolin". And for a historical drama, then "Shaolin" is a movie that is more than deserving a place in the movie Collection of any fan of the genre.

In the mid-30s China has broken up into warring factions of warlords attempting to carve out power and influence between themselves. Amongst them Hou Chieh (Andy Lau), powerful and remorseless, aiming to achieve domination even at the expense of his blood brothers death. He disregards not only loyalties for his quest for power, but also tradition - openly ridiculing the Shaolin Temple in the opening sequence of the movie. His only deeper affection is directed towards his wife (Bingbing Fan) and sole child. However, such immorality rarely remains unpunished, as karma is a dog and is intent on biting back, when his second in command Tsao Man (Nicholas Tse) betrays Hou, thus causing the death of his daughter. Initially conquered by anger Hou plans revenge, but soon finds sanctuary in the Shaolin Temple, finding a friend and comfort in the local cook Wudao (Jackie Chan). Slowly he accepts his fate and finds peace within himself. Tsao Man however does not intend to leave his former comrade of arms alive...Another blockbuster extravaganza from China with great settings, beautiful cinematography and some well researched, brilliantly crafted period reconstruction. However under Benny Chan's direction, visibly placing style and swashbuckling melodrama over substance, even the great Andy Lau delivers a sobbing and disappointing performance. Only Jackie Chan seems somewhat comfortable in his goofish guise, as the somewhat aloof super-cook. This stylistic over-reliance on soapish dramaturgy lacks the same required restraint showed by directors such as Ang Lee, Xiaogang Feng or even John Woo, thus making the effort at times a cringe-worthy lesson in bad filmmaking. The best moments come during fight sequences, but even here a severe overuse of slow-motion in order to 'imbue' the tragedy or drama just tingles all the wrong receptors. Instead of dramatic the multitude of such scenes make the movie a yawn-inducing watch, which could obviously use drastic editing to cut down run time with no harm to story or substance.

There's nothing better than a film with an uplifting moral message bought to you interspersed with lots of martial arts action and blowing stuff up. I can therefore heartily recommend this film.Whilst being a good watch there is also some good old-fashioned silly translations to add to the enjoyment. "Don't mess with the Shaolin Temple" is one fine example and another is "You bastards come and attack the temple, I'll send you to the Netherworld." (I don't know if you get this with the English soundtrack as I was watching the subtitled version.) There's a solid storyline and the usual stuff about the baddie finding redemption and making good his evil ways but it's not as 2-dimensional as these plots often are as you see the effect on Andy Lau's wife and daughter in no uncertain terms. The martial arts action is good though not outstanding. Jackie Chan has a supporting role but when he does eventually get an action scene it is laugh out loud funny and absolutely true to the character he plays in the film.It's not the world's best film but it would be hard to go wrong with this if you want to watch an entertaining epic with lots of action. I'm intrigued to know how much of the battles scenes and destruction of buildings was CGI and how much miniatures. I suspect it was a mixture. I'll have to listen to the DVD commentary to find out

I have to admit this was not one movie Andy Lau, was meant to be in: at least not a monk. At times the plot gets confusing though it makes me think: Why did he become a monk? I mean really it could have gone in an opposite direction. But the message is quite clear where cruelty is not an absolute answer to everything, with responsibility there is more steps you have to take to watch yourself. That is really quite it of what I watched this movie. 1. story line was quite weak with transition with the general turning into a monk, it almost seem like he was a coward. 2. though give them credit where its due which, there is compassion and forgiveness where Buddihism comes into play. Amazingly they only fight for their self righteousness and self defences. 3. overall I only would recommend viewers seeing this for time to kill or nothing else to do. When i say it missed the mark it seemed like I was watching Ghandi, but the shortened version. The best part of the films is at the end where everything comes together to tells a story of the nonsense. Between the struggling of the feudal lords and their ideals to gain in whatever way.