Shaolin (film)

Shaolin
Hong Kong film poster
Directed by	Benny Chan
Written by	Alan Yuen
Produced by	Benny Chan
Starring	Andy Lau Nicholas Tse Wu Jing Jackie Chan
Cinematography	Anthony Pun
Edited by	Yau Chi-wai
Music by	Nicolas Errèra (additional music : Anthony Chue)
Production companies	Emperor Motion Pictures China Film Group Corporation Huayi Brothers Media Corporation Beijing Silver Moon Productions Ltd. China Songshan Shaolin Temple Culture Communication Center
Distributed by	Emperor Motion Pictures
Release dates	19 January 2011 (2011-01-19) (China) 27 January 2011 (2011-01-27) (Hong Kong)
Running time	131 minutes
Country	China
Languages	Mandarin Cantonese
Budget	US$29,000,000
Box office	US$33,470,508 (China) US$2,632,485 (Hong Kong)

Shaolin (also known as The New Shaolin Temple) is a 2011 Chinese and Hong Kong martial arts film produced and directed by Benny Chan, starring Andy Lau, Nicholas Tse, Wu Jing and Jackie Chan. It is an updated version of Jet Li's film debut, Shaolin Temple.

Plot

The film is set in Dengfeng, Henan, during the warlord era of early Republican China. The warlord Hou Jie (Andy Lau) defeats a rival, Huo Long, and seizes control of Dengfeng. Huo Long flees to Shaolin Temple to hide but Hou Jie appears and shoots him after getting his Huo's treasure map. Hou Jie ridicules the Shaolin monks before leaving.

Feeling that his sworn brother, Song Hu, is taking advantage of him, Hou sets a trap for Song in a restaurant, under the guise of agreeing to his daughter's engagement to Song's son. Meanwhile, Hou's deputy, Cao Man (Nicholas Tse), feeling that he was being used by Hou, decides to betray him. During the dinner, Song shows his intention to retire and cedes everything to Hou but was informed that Hou intends to kill him. Out of rage and embarrassment, Hou fatally wounds Song. Both families were then attacked by Cao's assassins. Despite being shot by Hou, Song saves Hou to allow him to escape and Song dies subsequently. While fleeing, Hou's wife and daughter separated. Hou's wife is rescued by some passing-by Shaolin monks, who were stealing rice from the military granary to help the refugees living near the temple. Hou manages to escape with his daughter, but his daughter was severely injured when she was knocked down by the assassins's horse carriage. After a chase by the assassins on horse carriages, Hou and his daughter fall off a cliff. In desperation, Hou Jie brings his daughter to Shaolin, begging the monks to save her life, but it is too late and she dies of her injuries. Hou Jie's wife blames him for the death of their daughter and leaves him. Hou Jie attacks the monks in anger but is quickly subdued.

Hou becomes disillusioned and wanders near Shaolin, until he meets the cook monk Wudao (Jackie Chan), who provides him with food and shelter. Hou feels guilty for his past misdeeds and decides to become a monk and atone for his sins. During his stay in Shaolin, Hou Jie gradually understands Shaolin's principles through study and practising martial arts, mends his ways and finds peace and enlightenment from his heart. From the refugees, Hou discovers Cao had recruited male refugees to build a railway, which he objected when he was still a warlord, and they have yet to return after several days. Hou discovers that Cao was unearthing Chinese relics on pretext of building a railway and the refugees were massacred afterwards to silence them.

After Cao is informed that Hou is still alive, he leads his soldiers to Shaolin temple to capture Hou. Hou volunteers to go with Cao to distract him while the monks break into Cao's house to save the imprisoned labourers. Hou was reunited with his wife and escaped with her when his plan to rescue the labourers succeeded. Hou's senior, Jingneng, is brutally killed by Cao Man while covering for his juniors to escape. Upon returning to Shaolin Temple, the monks decide that they need to evacuate the temple to avoid further trouble. Wudao leads the refugees away while Hou and the other monks remain behind to defend the temple and buy time. Cao arrives with his troops and attack Shaolin. At the same time, the foreigners feel that they have been cheated and decide to silence Cao and Shaolin. They bombard Shaolin with artillery, resulting in heavy casualties for both the Shaolin monks and Cao's forces. Hou defeats Cao in a fight and eventually sacrifices himself to save Cao from being crushed by a falling beam and falls into the Buddha statue's palm and dies peacefully, leaving Cao feeling guilty. The surviving monks succeed in overcoming the foreigners and stopping the bombardment. Meanwhile, the retreating refugees turn back and start crying when they see Shaolin Temple in ruins. Wudao tells them that the Shaolin spirit will continue to live in them even though the temple has been destroyed.

Before the evacuation of Shaolin Temple, Hou met his wife for the last time. Repenting for his past mistakes, Hou passes the urn containing his daughter's cremated ashes to his wife. Hou's wife forgives Hou for his past, and accepts the fact that she can no longer be with him even though she prefer the present Hou compared to the past. Hou refused to leave Shaolin and stay behind for Shaolin's and refugees' defence, in admission that Cao's present evil doings stems from his own past misdeeds and he is responsible in guiding Cao back to the correct path.

Cast

• Andy Lau as Hou Jie, a warlord who becomes a Shaolin monk
• Nicholas Tse as Cao Man, Hou Jie's second in command who became his foe
• Wu Jing as Jingneng, Hou Jie's oldest senior who is killed by Cao Man
• Jackie Chan as Wudao, the Shaolin cook monk
• Xing Yu as Jingkong, Hou Jie's second senior, who dies together with Suoxiangtu in a fight
• Fan Bingbing as Yan Xi, Hou Jie's wife
• Yu Hai as the Shaolin abbot, who is killed while buying time for the remaining Shaolin monks and refugees to evacuate. Before his death he blocks the door with the bodies of his enemies.
• Yu Shaoqun as Jinghai, Hou Jie's third senior and a friend of Jingkong who is shot to death by Cao Man's soldiers after he saved a young girl.
• Xiaoliuna as Shengnan, Hou Jie's daughter
• Shi Xiaohong as Song Hu, Hou Jie's sworn brother, who was shot by Hou
• Hung Yan-yan as Suoxiangtu, a martial arts expert working for Cao Man
• Chen Zhihui as Huo Long, a rival warlord who was killed by Hou Jie at the start of the film
• Liang Jingke as Song Hu's wife

Theme song

The theme song, "Wu" (悟; roughly translates to "awaken" or "enlighten"), was composed by the French composer Nicholas Errèra, with Andy Lau performing the song and providing the lyrics.

Production

Filming started in October 2009 with a jubilant ceremony held inside Shaolin Monastery. News first spread of the project when the film's co-star Jackie Chan announced on his official website that he was involved with the project but was not able to talk about it due to contract restrictions.

Chan and his crew built their own "Shaolin Temple" in Zhejiang province that cost 10 million yuan (US$1.47 million) to avoid damaging the actual temple. The cast members shaved their heads bald for filming, whereas Chan, who wore a hat, shaved around his head where his hair was sticking out.

Andy Lau's left hand was injured while he was filming a fight scene.

Release

Shaolin was originally slated for a late 2010 release. The film was released in China on January 19, 2011 and in Hong Kong on January 27, 2011. Shaolin premiered as number one in the Hong Kong box office, grossing $592,046 during its first week. The film also premiered at number one in the Thailand and Singapore box offices during opening week. The film also went on to break the box office record in Malaysia.

Reception

Shaolin holds a 74% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 27 reviews.

See also

• Andy Lau filmography
• Jackie Chan filmography

External links

• Shaolin at IMDb
• Shaolin at AllMovie
• Shaolin at the Hong Kong Movie DataBase
• Shaolin 2011 Movie Review (BY AMP)

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