Hu die shi ba shi

THE SECRET SHAOLIN KUNG FU is another low rent and rather nondescript outing from Taiwan. It features Yi-min Li as the erstwhile young hero, an actor who seems to have been picked for the role thanks to his resemblance to the mega-popular Jackie Chan more than anything else. The opening sequence sees Li training in a room of potted plants although this has little to do with the rest of the movie.

The thrust of the story is about a disabled guy with no arms or legs who is being carried around the countryside in his chair. The weird thing is that everybody he meets ends up committing suicide. These sequences are interspersed with standard training footage of Li being put through his paces by his blind and slightly crazy grandfather, who is busy teaching him something called the 'butterfly styles'.

Training sequences take up a big part of the film and there are some fun ring training moments to behold. Meanwhile a third sub-plot involves beggars being killed off and coming to our hero for help. All of the sub-plots eventually come together with revelations of secret identity and past misdemeanours. As is usual, it all boils down to a fight with a white-haired villain in a field. The problem with THE SECRET SHAOLIN KUNG FU is that it's very routine and the action is unremarkable, apart from the fun moments with the metal rings. It's nothing you won't have seen a million times before.