Martial Arts of Shaolin
Director: Lau Kar-leung
Year: 1986
Rating: 7.0
This third film
in the Shaolin trilogy is much more in spirit with the first one in terms
of plot, intensity and themes. Though many of the same actors are used again,
they are all in different roles from the two previous films. There is a fair
amount of action with two set pieces in particular that were very impressive.
The story as best as I could understand (unreadable sub-titles) and with
the help of the review in the HK Database by SS is once again about revenge.
In the opening scene a man is unlawfully executed by a court magistrate and
then the film jumps years ahead to Jet Li as a young Shaolin monk pounding
the hell out of a tree in a practice session. Apparently the fellow executed
was his father and though Jet is usually a genial fellow, an anger resides
inside and he still seeks revenge for his father. The opportunity soon comes.
In the first terrific set piece, a large
troupe of performers are giving an exhibition in the courtyard of the magistrate
who Jet Li is looking for. Jet is able to join the performance as a lion
dancer. This performance on its own merits is a wonderful spectacle full
of great acrobatics, lion dancing and beautifully agile women. Just as Jet
finally gets the opening to attack, it turns out that he is not the only
one with murder on his mind as a number of the participants have conspired
to kill the magistrate. The assassination plot fails though and Jet,
another fellow and a girl find themselves on the run together. After many
escapes (with Jet spending a lot of time disguised as a female sheep herder!),
the final confrontation takes place on an ornate river barge with the three
of them taking on a huge number of enemies. Though parts of this were regretfully
speeded up too much, it is a terrific fight.
Though in many ways the Shaolin trilogy
may seem quaint and a little outmoded to many Jet Li fans, they are certainly
very worthwhile. Jet is probably on a physical basis at the top of his martial
art skills and the trilogy utilizes only a small amount of wire work. These
being Mainland productions, the films were able to shoot among some fabulous
settings – both historical and geographical. One of the other great assets
of these films are the supporting players. Many of the same actors are used
in all three films and they all have wonderful martial art skills. As do
the numerous actors in other smaller roles. In some of the bigger scenes,
it is simply a huge canvass of talent on the screen – all fighting and performing
great acrobatics.
The one supporting actor that I really
enjoyed in all three films is Yu Hai. He plays Jet’s sifu in the first and
third film and his dad in the second. He brings great presence and charm
to his role and displays a very interesting fighting style. In information
gathered from the Internet, Yu Hai began training in wushu in 1954 and became
the coach of the Shandong wushu team in 1966. Apparently, at one time he
was also bodyguard to Zhou En-Lai (Mao’s Foreign Minister for many years).
