American Shaolin

American Shaolin is undoubtibly one of the best film ever made. It is a brilliant concoction of humour, action and excitement. I was mezmerised whilst watching it, at its greatness and anticipated eagerly for the outcome of events. It is an utter masterpiece in movie making and hasn't got the credit it deserves. It is an excellently made film and is exciting all the way through. I watch it at least once everyday, sometimes twice. Thats how brilliant it is. Well done Lucas Lowe for creating such a magnificent piece of work!! "the tiger grasps the pearls."

An unofficial follow-up to the No Retreat, No Surrender movies and King of the Kickboxers, this movie continues to entertain with the same amount of quality as the earlier movies. Being the first movie in this series without Loren Avedon, it still delivers on all levels. And by that I mean it delivers on the fighting. The action is great. The rest of the movie is just total goofiness of the highest order, and that's the way it should be. It's a really lighthearted movie where the focus is on the action and the fact that you just don't take it seriously at all. Sit back, enjoy this movie for what it's worth and have a great time.

If you've ever seen a movie about the Shaolin Temple, then you've seen half of this, what sets 'King of the Kickboxers II' apart from the rest is the inability of the hero to keep his pants up, and air-guitar styling of the Shaolin disciples. Awesome.

'King of the Kickboxers II' opens with our hero, Drew Carson, facing a bad-dude known as Trevor (what an evil name) in a martial arts tournament. Trevor beats Drew by pulling his pants down (just how does he untie Drew's belt whilst wearing gentlemen's sport gloves?). The obvious solution for Drew is to go the Shaolin Temple, so its off to China and good-bye to Trevor for most of the movie. Somehow, Drew doesn't have any communication troubles in China, because everyone at the Shaolin Temple speaks English, even when in the villagers talking to people speaking Chinese.

Anyway, most of the movie is your standard Shaolin Temple stuff - training sequences and fights, but all from the perspective of a loud-mouthed American who constantly gets in trouble. The fights are good, but nothing special. If you're looking for Shaolin action ala 'Shaolin Temple', you will be disappointed, but if you just want some martial arts fun, then this is for you.

5/10

Some 'Gee whizz' kid goes to China to learn Shaolin Kung Fu after getting knacked and humiliated in a martial arts tournament. They teach him Kung Fu, he teaches them to rock n' roll with broomsticks. God bless America!

Having been a great fan of the No retreat No Surrender films and King Of The Kickboxers since I was a boy in the 80's I had never got around to seeing this sequel to the series.

As a direct sequel to King Of The Kickboxers first off I must say that its no where near as good. The acting is more atrocious than usual in these kinds of films but the big flaw is that the fight's are almost no- where to be seen and for a martial arts film that's bad news. After the opening fight almost an hour passes with no action whatsoever. The ones that do crop up are acceptably choreographed but are slow, short and lack the intensity of any of the previous films due to some slow movements and very tight close camera-work.

It's an OK film though, most likely because it is a complete rip off of Bruce Lee's Kung-Fu starring David Carradine. A few monks talking with American accents sort of spoil the feel and the main character is pretty unlikable and a bit arrogant.

A few more regular fights and more imaginative choreography and it would have been great but as it stands it's not a patch on King of the Kickboxers, or any of the Karate Tiger series for that matter.