Shaolin Challenges Ninja
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Movie Reviews of Shaolin Challenges Ninja
Movie Review: The China vs Japan mythos has never been done better
Summary: 5 Stars
Apples vs. oranges, Chevy vs. Ford, Yankees vs. Red Sox, vanilla vs. chocolate... all great debates to be sure, but they pale in comparison to the best debate of them all, Chinese Martial Arts vs. Japanese Martial Arts! This Lau Kar-Leung (who also appears as a drunken master!) film, also known by the much better title, "Heroes of the East," delivers this battle in fantastic fashion with tons of style and charm to spare. The plot has Gordon Liu in an arranged marriage to Japanese actress Yuko Mizuno and instantly their cultures and beliefs clash, most importantly when it comes to just who has the best fighting techniques the world over. In typical Kar-Leung film fashion the movie has a light playful tone, however; unlike some of his other attempts it's never corny and obnoxious and Gordon and Yuko in particular have fun with the situations while still keeping a serious tone about everything. The Japanese masters that are brought in to challenge Gordon are all great and bring personality and flavor with the small amount of screen time each is given (by actual Japanese actors). When these duels occur we get everything you could ever hope for including Kung Fu vs. Karate, Long Sword vs. Kitana, Butterfly Knives vs. Sais, 3 Section Staff vs. Nunchuku (in the closest we'll ever get to seeing Liu take on Bruce Lee... and this guy is an obvious clone), and more! One knock I do have with the movie is that Chinese master Liu tends to pawn the Japanese masters in exciting but fairly one-sided duels. Still, this is a Chinese film (if it was Japanese I'm sure things would be quite the opposite) and the Japanese masters are all treated respectfully even in defeat. This is a top 10 martial arts movie for myself and many other fans of Kung Fu cinema so if you haven't seen this yet then do yourself a favor and check it out ASAP! As far as the DVD by bargain-bin bootleg company Red Sun goes, it looks unbelievably good in a crisp, clean widescreen presentation and comes with 2 language tracks (original and English dub... the dub has a pretty solid hissing behind it) and can be bought for next to nothing. That being said I advise buying this only if you have never seen it and until Image or another respectable company rereleases it... then crush this bootleg copy with a rock (means of destruction completely up to you. The rock is just a sugestion LOL!).Movie Review: a MUST HAVE for a fan of kung fu films
Summary: 5 Stars
If you know kung fu films then you must know Gordon Liu, and this is one of my favorite movies of his. Gordon Liu is an awesome martial artist. In this film he demonstrate many martial arts techniques such a drunken boxing and other kung fu styles. In this movie Gordon Liu is forced to marry a Japanese woman who is skilled and proud of her Japenese fighting skills and customs. This couple eventually quarrells over whos style is better. The Japenese wife's masters come from Japan to teach Gordon Liu a lesson. A beautiful display of spear, sword, staff, Judo, karete, ninjitsu, and other fighting styles are displayed. The movie is english dubbed, and the option of clear subtitles is available. The movie is digitally restored so it is fairly clear when compared to other old school kung fu films. Simply, buy this movie if you enjoy good kung fu movies, a must have for all fans!!Movie Review: I will explain
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie has good dialogue and an excellent plot, and as part of that plot has an organized competition a la Karate Kid or Bloodsport which is as cool as that one from that movie which I wish I could remember where guys from all countries come together to compete and then the one guy from India comes strutting in playing the recorder type thing before he declares that he is going to kick a$$ all around, and besides all of that it has great kung fu. So you can judge my tastes, I also like Shaolin Temple Against Lama, Iron Monkey, Wheels on Meals, and Fist of Legend. I have seen a lot of kung fu movies, and this movie is among the best, upper ninety five percentile, of all kung fu movies. Maybe it's not Citizen Kane, but the director understood that the viewer wants to see action and not BS. Two bucks at the thrift store.Movie Review: Amazing Martial Arts Film! Chinese v. Japanese!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm not a man of many words, so I don't think I'll say too much. But not enough can be said about this awesome martial arts flick! First of all, it stars Gordon Liu, whose martial arts career rivals that of Jackie Chan. Second it is a fantanstic display of the differences between Chinese and Japanese martial arts. It's got jian (straight sword) versus katana, butterfly swords versus sai, karate versus zui quan (drunken fist), and an awesome confrontation between Chinese kung fu and ninja!
Some might call the plot weak, but I've seen weaker. Besides, it's usually not about the plot, but the kung fu fights, in which case this film is excellent.
Movie Review: Gordon, what's that on your scalp?
Summary: 4 Stars
What's refreshing about this movie is that its sense of humor transcends culture and geography. I can deal with the fact that kung fu films are just an extension of the Chinese Opera, but often the humor doesn't translate. Then again, I find most modern American comedies anything but funny. And let's look at American martial arts flicks. No, I'm not gonna do that. Blecchh!
Gordon Liu is arranged to be married to a Japanese woman, which he ain't thrilled about until he sees how pretty she is. So he goes through with it and all is well until they start debating on the superiority of Chinese or Japanese styles. Eventually they spar and Gordo wins. She goes back to Japan and he issues her a challenge to try and get her to return. Unfortunately the letter is intercepted by some of her superiors thinking he is challenging them and insulting their martial arts.
A group of Japanese fighters soon show up on Gordon's door looking for a rumble. He has to fight one a day until he is defeated or takes them all out. Not an easy task, even for an expert.
There are some great and inventive fights in this movie. And each one is different from the last as he has to use a different style and/or weapon for each of his opponents.
A beautiful, restored DVD only adds to the excitement of owning this movie. Colorful in picture, humor, and style. This is quite a bit different than most Shaw Brothers movies I've seen and is recommended.
1978. aka: Heroes of the East; Challenge of the Ninja
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