American Shaolin

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

American Shaolin is a virtuosic display of the drama of martial arts combat, intertwined with the wisdom and lore of the Eastern Buddhist Tradition (Shaolin). After a humilating incident in which his pants are pulled down by martial arts "bad guy" Trevor Gottiall, revealing his panties to a crowd of about 75 people in a high school gymnasium, Drew Carson escapes to the rural countryside of Communist China to learn the secrets of Oriental Martial Arts (Shaolin Fighting). While there Drew must master the arts of manual labor (viz. "latrine cleaning") and fighting wooden golems; but he also manages to impart a little "wisdom" on his Chinese captors: he breaks up the monotony of another day of hard labor in the prison camp with a rendition of "The Shaolin Temple Blues" -- with eerily reminiscent of Buddy Holly's 1956 hit "Summertime Blues" -- and in the process teaches his Oriental associates how to sing and dance "American"-style.

Except for some unnecessary (albeit, brief) digressions into Avant-Garde Symbolism -- mainly in the form of a trip to the mountain to visit the Zarathustra-esque Purple Magician (portrayed with fantastic charisma by Noriyuku "Pat" Morita of Karate Kid fame) and a panty-raid at the local high school dance -- American Shaolin is a film to be enjoyed over and over. A veritable tour-de-force realized through the sheer acting-magnificence of its ensemble cast, that culminates with a breathtaking transition from the final test that requires Drew to destroy Wooden Golems in the basement of the Shaolin Temple to the final fight "all-out" bare-knuckle fight at the International Karate Expo where Drew must put his skillz to their ultimate test in mortal kombat with Trevor. And let's just say that Drew doesn't "drop his pants" this time!!!

Keep on Shaolin-Fighting, Drew

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.

this has got to be one of those films where the trailer is 50 times better than the movie itself.I first saw the trailer in 1991, it looked great.Since then i have always wanted to see it but could never find it.....until today, yes, 14 years later.

lets just say I was so disappointed its unreal, OK i knew it wouldn't be an Oscar winner but still had hopes that it would be a fun no-brain film in the bloodsport mold. Unfortunately it was not, it's Pooh

whats with all the American rock and roll music and the acting was so bad it was quite frightening.

The fight scenes were rubbish and look fake.

this DVD only cost me £5 and I believe I was overcharged by £7

Now I'm sad as I know that I will never get that hour and a half back.

This was a great martial arts film. The action sequences are exciting and fast paced. The Shaolin training sequences was a highlight, especially when the new monks demonstrated with weapons. Reese Madigan was a bit annoying, but he still can prove he is a tough fighter on screen. I don't know how they did it, but they made non-martial artist Trent Bushy look great as the evil Trevor. A must-see for all fans of martial arts films.