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Shaolin (film)

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Shaolin
Hong Kong film poster
Directed byBenny Chan
Written byAlan Yuen
Produced byBenny Chan
StarringAndy Lau
Nicholas Tse
Wu Jing
Jackie Chan
CinematographyAnthony Pun
Edited byYau Chi-wai
Music byNicolas 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 byEmperor Motion Pictures
Release dates
  • 19 January 2011 (2011-01-19) (China)
  • 27 January 2011 (2011-01-27) (Hong Kong)
[1]
Running time
131 minutes
CountriesHong Kong
China
LanguagesCantonese[1]
Mandarin [2]
BudgetUS$30.5 million
Box office$33,470,508 (China)

Shaolin (also known as The New Shaolin Temple), is a 2011 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.[3]

Plot

The film is set in Dengfeng, Henan, during the warlord era of early Republican China. The warlord Hou Jie defeats a rival named Huo Long and seizes control of Dengfeng. Huo Long flees to Shaolin Temple to hide but Hou Jie appears and shoots him. Hou Jie ridicules the Shaolin monks before leaving.

Feeling disadvantageous with his sworn brother, Song Hu, Hou Jie sets a trap for Song in a restaurant, under the guise of agreeing to his daughter's engagement to Song's son. Meanwhile, Hou Jie's deputy, Cao Man, feeling that he was being used by Hou and that he deserves better, decides to betray Hou. Cao Man sends assassins to murder Hou Jie and his family. Hou Jie manages to fatally wound Song Hu with his handgun, but Song still saves Hou to allow him to escape from the assassin's ambush before succumbing to his injuries. Hou Jie manages to escape together with his daughter, but his daughter was severely injured when a carriage knocked her down while she is fleeing, and worsen when they fall off a cliff. Hou Jie'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. 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 Jie becomes disillusioned and wanders near Shaolin, until he meets the cook monk Wudao, who provides him with food and shelter. Hou Jie 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. One day, Hou Jie overhears that Cao Man, who has taken control over his army, is oppressing the people by forcing them to unearth Chinese relics. Cao Man sells the relics to foreigners (who appear to be Americans due to the eagle on their caps) in exchange for advanced weaponry, after which he will have the labourers massacred to silence them. Hou Jie shows up to save some labourers and exposes himself in the process.

When Cao Man hears that Hou Jie is still alive, he leads his soldiers to the Shaolin temple to capture Hou. Hou Jie volunteers to distract Cao Man while the monks secretly break into Cao's house to save the imprisoned labourers. The plan succeeds but Hou Jie's senior, Jingneng, is brutally killed by Cao Man while buying time 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 Jie and the other monks remain behind to defend the temple. By then, Cao Man arrives with his troops and orders an attack on Shaolin. At the same time, the foreigners feel that they have been cheated and they bombard Shaolin with artillery, resulting in heavy casualties for both the Shaolin monks and Cao Man's forces. Hou Jie defeats Cao Man in a fight and eventually sacrifices himself to save Cao from being crushed by a falling beam (returning the karma of Song Hu's sacrifice to save Hou during Song's assassination) and falls into the Buddha statue's palm and dies peacefully, leaving Cao feeling guilty. On the other hand, the surviving monks succeed in overcoming the enemy 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.

Afterwards, the scene cuts to an earlier period before the monks evacuate with the refugees, with Hou Jie meeting with his wife in the temple for the last time. Hou Jie passes the urn containing his daughter's cremated ashes to his wife, and she forgives Hou for his past, and accepts the fact that she can no longer be with him. Hou Jie admits that Cao Man's present evil doings stems from his own past misdeeds, thus he is responsible in guiding Cao back to the correct path. The scene ends with the monks practicing martial arts under snowfall, hinting that the monks and refugees settled down once again.

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
  • 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
  • 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, who is shot to death by Cao Man's soldiers after he saved a young girl.
  • Liang Jingke as Song Hu's wife
  • Bai Bing as Tian'er, the singer in the restaurant

Theme song

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

Production

Filming started in October 2009 with a jubilant ceremony held inside Shaolin Monastery.[4] 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.[5]

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.[3] 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.[6]

Andy Lau's left hand was injured while he was filming a fight scene.[7]

Release

Shaolin was originally slated for a late 2010 release.[8] The film was released in China on January 19, 2011 and in Hong Kong on January 27, 2011.[9] Shaolin premiered as number one in the Hong Kong box office, grossing $592,046 during its first week.[10] The film also premiered at number one in the Thailand and Singapore box offices during opening week.[11][12] The film also went on to break the box office record in Malaysia.[citation needed]

Reception

As of September 14, 2011 and 24 reviews, the film holds a 74% fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes.[13]

DVD release

On September 12, 2011, DVD was released in a two disc ultimate edition at UK in Region 2.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Golden Screen Cinemas Online Shaolin".
  2. ^ http://www.hoyts.com.au/Movies/details/Shaolin.aspx
  3. ^ a b "Jackie Chan, Andy Lau to star in new Shaolin movie". China Daily. 2009-10-22. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
  4. ^ "New Shaolin Temple, Literally". 2010-03-01. Retrieved 2010-03-15.
  5. ^ "Little-Big-Soldier-in-Hong-Kong; Filming-Shaolin-Temple". 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-06.
  6. ^ "Busy Getting Ready For a New Movie". 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-31.
  7. ^ "Andy Lau gets injured during filming, lets everyone know he's ok online". 2010-02-13. Retrieved 2010-02-16.
  8. ^ "Shaolin temple kicks off chopsocky pic". Variety. October 21, 2009. Retrieved February 2, 2011. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  9. ^ Elley, Derek (February 1, 2011). "Shaolin (新少林寺)". Film Business Asia. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  10. ^ "Shaolin Temple". Box Office Mojo. IMDB. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  11. ^ "Shaolin Temple". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  12. ^ "Shaolin Temple". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  13. ^ Shaolin Rotten Tomatoes Flixster

Shaolin 2011 Movie Review (BY AMP)

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