Movies about Shaolin monk
Forget Harry Potter, Transformers and any comic book superhero you’d care to name. None of them can match what is arguably the most popular franchise in film history, featuring the 1,500-year-old martial-arts tradition of some Chinese Buddhist monks.
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The Shaolin Temple, founded in the fifth century, has been the key element in hundreds of movies and TV shows: «Kids From Shaolin,» «American Shaolin,» «The 36th Chamber of Shaolin,» «Shaolin Soccer» — and now «Shaolin,» a new movie starring Jackie Chan and Andy Lau that debuted Friday on video-on-demand. All are based on the martial-arts practices of the monastery — a special brand of kung fu that combines physicality and Buddhist spirituality and is, according to the Shaolin Temple’s Web site, «based on a belief in the supernatural power of Buddhism.»
“Most people don’t realize kung fu is internal and external, a peaceful and a martial application, and a Shaolin movie will include both, while most kung fu movies are about anger and shooting,” says Ric Meyers, author of “Films of Fury: The Kung Fu Movie Book.”
“Shaolin is all about spirituality, karma, your well-being,” adds Doris Pfardrescher of Well Go USA, which is distributing “Shaolin.” All other martial-arts films are “ just about action, fighting,” she adds, “but Shaolin is about religion, spirituality, being with Buddha.”
Despite the longevity of the Shaolin tradition — and that its fighting monks have popped up in Chinese films as far back as the 1930s — the temple’s cinematic cult is a relatively recent phenomenon.
It began with “Shaolin Temple,” a 1976 film inspired by a 17th-century incident in which imperial Qing dynasty forces burned down the monastery, but several monks escaped and spread their martial-arts style throughout the land. The film’s release was “when people started to get a grasp on Shaolin martial arts, and that’s also when the world was opening up to martial-arts movies,” says Craig D. Reid, author of “The Ultimate Guide to Martial Arts Movies of the 1970s.”
“These were the heroes that would save the country,” says Reid. “They were fantastic martial artists and have been important in Chinese history.”
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The success of “Shaolin Temple” opened the floodgates. Filmmakers in China and Hong Kong started pumping out Shaolin movies as fast as they could, and with the release of Jet Li’s first film, the 1981 mega-hit also named “Shaolin Temple,” “everyone in China went Shaolin crazy,” says Meyers. “Kung fu is baseball in China; it’s ubiquitous, and Shaolin kung fu is top of the line” (Bruce Lee, who died before the Shaolin craze, did not practice Shaolin-style martial arts).
But Shaolin did not become just an Asian phenomenon. The 1970s TV series “Kung Fu” featured David Carradine as a Shaolin monk. Wu-Tang Clan named their first hip-hop album “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)” — the 36 Chambers being a reference to a Shaolin movie. The animated hit “Kung Fu Panda” was influenced by Shaolin martial-arts styles. In the “Kill Bill” movies, Uma Thurman is taught martial arts by a Shaolin monk. And even the cartoon series “The Simpsons” helped establish the monastery’s cultural bona fides when Homer visited it during a trip to China.
Since the Shaolin craze began, martial arts have become fairly ubiquitous in movie fight scenes — hits such as “The Matrix” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” helped popularize the form — but Shaolin remains an iconic name and style all its own. “A lot of other martial-arts films are just throwing out different styles,” says Reid, “but when you see a bald-headed monk in a martial-arts film, you know it’s a Shaolin monk. Other movies are just entertainment. The Shaolin movies are a way to tell the audience about the Shaolin martial arts.”
Same as it ever was. In “Shaolin,” set in the early 1900s and inspired by the 1980s Jet Li film, a war lord (Andy Lau) betrayed by a rival seeks refuge in the legendary monastery, where he learns inner peace through the practice of Shaolin martial arts. The film, only the second to be formally authorized by temple officials, has been a hit on the mainland. When it comes to the potential American audience, says Pfardrescher, “you have a younger demographic, but with Shaolin you get more women because of the spirituality of it all. It’s amazing how many female fans we have.”
Shaolin has, in fact, become a “brand” of sorts. The monastery is now a tourist attraction, the monks have traveled the world giving demonstrations of their martial-arts prowess and numerous Web sites offer Shaolin equipment, T-shirts and other merchandise (much of which is not licensed by the temple).
But ultimately, says Reid, Shaolin has become so popular not because it is aggressive and martial, but because it is “about learning not to fight, learning to heal, not to hurt. It’s about learning about one’s self.”
Shaolin monk movies and TV shows
The list contains the best, new and most relevant shaolin monk movies ordered by relevance. The recommendation service has sorted out exciting, serious, realistic, stylized, tense and suspenseful films and TV shows about / with martial arts, shaolin monk, master warrior, kung fu, heroes, fight, rivalry, fighting, shaolin kung fu and violence plots mostly in Action, Drama and Adventure genres shot in Hong Kong, USA, Taiwan and other countries.
TOP 10 movies tagged as shaolin monk: Martial Arts of Shaolin (1986), Shaolin (2011), Kung Fu Kid (2007), Kung Fu League (2018), Monk Comes Down the Mountain (2015), Fury of the Shaolin Master (1978), The Last Kung Fu Monk (2010), Kung Fu (1972), Shaolin Wooden Men (1976), American Shaolin (1991).
List of shaolin monk movies
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Žánr: Akční, Komedie, Drama
Země: Hong Kong, Čína
Délka: 94 min.
Story: Jet Li weasels out of the north Shaolin temple to assassinate a despotic ruler at the ruler’s extravagant public birthday celebration. Two other men from the south Shaolin temple also set out to assassinate the ruler, but all three fail and are .
Style: realistic, serious, suspenseful, exciting, cult classic
Publikum: chlapecká noc
Plot: martial arts, kung fu, shaolin monk, shaolin, master warrior, one against many, soldier, heroes, kung fu master, vengeance, fight, kung fu fighting .
The Shaolin Temple Movies: The Series That Launched Jet Li’s Career
We look at how Jet Li got his start in the Shaolin Temple series.
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Looking at it now, Šaolinský chrám’s story suffers from some very episodic structuring. It shifts tone from comedy to action a lot in the first half and the comedy is particularly broad and tasteless, even for the genre, mostly involving actual animal cruelty and simulated animal cruelty. At one point, Li’s character accidentally kills his love interest’s dog, then cooks and eats it, sharing the meat with the monks, and this is portrayed as being quite quaint and amusing!
HOWEVER, and it’s a big however, the martial arts are truly something to write home about. With the rare treat of having so many real wushu champions in the cast, the fights are authentic, low on editing tricks and high on insane skills. Having them take place on actual Shaolin cobbles generates a real thrill as well. It’s something you’ve not seen before and should give even jaded kung fu fans the goosebumps.
When the film hit screens across China in 1982, it was such a colossal hit that it reignited an interest in Shaolin Temple itself (which had been closed down during China’s cultural revolution and didn’t even have an active abbot at the time). Suddenly, there was so much enthusiasm for the Temple that apparently the Chinese government issued a notice to Mainland children, urging them to stay in school and not run off to become monks!
A smash on this level demanded a sequel so Cheung Sing-Yim got to work quickly and made Shaolin Temple 2: Kids From Shaolin (1984). Rather than continue the story, he reunited the main cast in an americký hororový příběh style, casting them as new characters in an unrelated story set in a different time and place.
Now it’s the Ming Dynasty and there are two rural families, the Dragon Family (whose children are all boys) and the Phoenix Family (whose children are all girls) who live on farms with a river between them. Dragons learn only Shaolin kung fu. Phoenixes learn the Wu Tang sword technique. There’s obviously a rivalry between the two families but, at the same time, with a bunch of pubescent teens involved, a little bit of romance. Bizarrely, we’re told most of this via the medium of song and a Disney-style animation sequence…
There are a few other songs in the film too, some sung by the cast. In fact, for the most part, Shaolin Temple 2 plays like a Chinese take on Sedm nevěst pro sedm bratrů. In addition to the songs there’s verdant scenery, light romance and more comedy hijinks than fighting. However, there is a team of evil bandits lurking in the background, plotting to pillage Phoenix Village and kidnap the women… so you can work out where the story goes. Will the Phoenixes and Dragons forget their differences and combine the powers of Shaolin and Wu Tang, to defeat the bandits? You’ll find out!
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As weird as it may sound, it’s pretty entertaining stuff. Considering the cast were assembled in the first film for their wushu skills not their acting ability, they’re given a LOT of acting to do here and it works. Jet Li demonstrates he was born for the screen and brings a real romantic chemistry to his scenes with soon-to-be-real-life-wife Wong Chau-Yin (also a fighter in Li’s wushu team). It’s a breezy, cute adventure that’s maybe a touch heavy on little kid antics but not short on charm.
Eventually things do kick off, and the final fifteen minutes are a maelstrom of high octane brawling that includes a wider variety of melee weapons than I can ever recall seeing and an absolutely ouuuuuuuuch-inducing finishing move to end things with a bang. And, just like anyone who’s played Mezinárodní karate Plus can tell you, trouser-splitting jokes are always funny.
V důsledku toho, Děti ze Shaolinu was another success and in 1986, a third Šaolinský chrám film appeared. Although Shaolin Temple 3 (Aka Martial Arts Of Shaolin) was shot on the Mainland with most of the old cast returning, this was a proper Hong Kong production with the Shaw Brothers producing and the legendary Lau Kar-Leung in the director’s seat. No stranger to Shaolin, having directed the 36th Chamber Trilogy, Kar-Leung slots right in but puts his own spin on the series. It’s particularly awesome to see locations at the Great Wall and The Forbidden City put to such stunning use. So many Shaws productions were studio-bound or used HK locations so this is a rare opportunity to see their style of action filmed in the Mainland.
This time around, Li plays a young monk called Zhi Ming who’s training at north Shaolin but is obsessed with getting revenge on an evil warlord who killed his parents (Yu Cheng-Hui). He sneaks out of the temple to attempt an assassination during a lion dance but it fails, leaving Zhi to go on the run with a pair of south Shaolin apprentices who also want the warlord dead. A cross-country chase ensues. Southern and northern styles combine. A lot of people get royally messed up.
Na rozdíl od Děti ze Shaolinu, the action overshadows the story here. There’s a fight every few minutes and the choreography – courtesy of Kar-Leung – is explosive. Li’s acting performance is weaker than in the first two films (perhaps the lack of a real character or perhaps Kar-Leung was just more used to a different style of performer?) but his martial arts are on astonishing form. He moves with immense speed and accuracy here, demonstrating incredible northern style wushu techniques and wielding a pole I would not like to be on the receiving end of.
The film’s mega-budget coats every frame in opulence too. Beyond the luscious scenery, the costumes and custom-built sets (including a gigantic period boat that stages the insane final fight) are beautiful. I’d go as far as to say it’s one of the studio’s most accomplished mid-80s achievements and a very respectful end to the trilogy. If you’re looking for a way in, it’s the most accessible too; more conventionally structured than 1, more action-packed than 2 and just a damn fine movie.
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