Les exécuteurs de Shaolin

This is an almost epic tale of fighter and son trying to avenge the death of the old shaolin master, fighting the evil master, infused with humor and style it follows the flight from the evil Pai Mei and his henchmen, disguising as theatre troups performing Shaolin Kung Fu shows for a period and the tiger-style fighter Hsi-Kuan settles down with a crane-style fighting wife and have a son to prepare for epic battles with Pai Mei. Hsi-Kuan's and Yung Chung's marriage and wedding night on board a boat is a very funny highlight of the film. Telling more about what happens would be telling too much, but the battles with Pai Mai are spectacularly set. 7/10

I had only just watched "Clan of the White Lotus" a month or two back, which could be seen (well in my eyes) as a more accomplished rehash of this particular period martial arts enterprise. Nonetheless the similarities in the story's structure (which is hard to pass by) doesn't matter because the Shaw Brothers and director Chia-Liang Liu along with actor Lieh Lo as the Kung Fu Master Pai Mei and minor cameo by Chia Hui Liu makes this one very enjoyable, downright flamboyant and utterly unique cult martial arts feature with a good sense of humour abound and dashing action. Pai Mei had just killed a Shoalin priest and surviving students led by Hung Hsi Kuan (ably acted by Kuan Tai Chen) vow vengeance for their master's death and that of fellow students. And it's no rush either. As Hung happily marries a strong-minded lady (a perfectly pitched Lily Li) who's well developed in the crane-style fighting and has a son while spending many years perfecting the skills and stamina of the tiger-style fighting before taking on master white brow. Cheng Kang-Yeh provides a cheeky performance as one the Shoalin students and Wang Yu is quite good as the grown up son. The pacing can be rather bumpy (especially in the leisured midsection concentrating more on the trivial aspects in the character dramas that hold the narrative), but when it came down to the atypical fighting it was excitingly displayed with verve-like camera-work working around the smooth, but tough choreography with numerous, long encounters. Maybe repetitive but never dull, although the ending is a little disappointing in the way it just seems to finish hastily.

This was one of those films that I watched over and over, whenever I could. I've seen it on TV, usually in NYC on Channel 5 Saturday afternoons at 1pm, 3pm, or 5pm, on Drive-In Movie. I have also paid to see it repeatedly years ago in the old Times Square movie theaters. They used to specialize in Hong Kong martial arts films before Giuliani killed them all off. That's one thing I really miss about the old Times Sq...

This movie had it all: great plot and writing, great acting and action, even great dubbing. I really wish it would come out on DVD or even VHS...

EXECUTIONERS FROM SHAOLIN is director LIU CHIA-LIANG (LAU KAR-LEUNG) very different contribution to the Shaolin Temple series, begun by CHANG CHEH. Unlike CHANG who seems to have a strong dislike for women, and actresses, LIU provides LILY LI the opportunity to portray a strong, complex female role.

From her very first scenes as a travelling street entertainer who defends her turf in a duel with the famous Shaolin fighter HONG XIOGUAN (aka HUNG SZE KUAN); marries him but keeps him at bay on their wedding night using her martial arts, FANG YUNG is a match for her vengeance obsessed husband.

HONG is one of the few Shaolin monks to survive the earlier massacre. In fact he and his men escaped an ambush only because one of his friends - Brother Tong - sacrifices himself to give them all time to escape.

And the same thing happens again, when he challenges ABBOT PAI MEI (aka "White Brows"), even though he is clearly no match for him. He rejects his wife's advice, seemingly because she is a woman. And using the same pigheaded logic, he makes the terrible decision not to learn her crane style.

Thankfully the son stands up to his father, and learns from his mother. When Hong returns to fight White Brows a second time, there is a sense of inevitability. The son fights to stop his father, who dissuades him with empty rhetoric, and then goes to his death.

In this film this is very significant because the filmmakers have gone to great trouble to establish a strong family unit, only to have it torn asunder because the father is too set in his ways to change. Thus the audience really does feel a sense of loss, and are saddened that the wife and son cannot put the love they have for Hong into words. The need to seek vengeance has become very personal.

The film itself has a wonderful mix of combat and training sequences; sizeable dollops of romance and humour (Cantonese style), and enough plot to hang everything together.

Best of all, it actually has something to say: the film ends, abruptly, leaving you with very mixed emotions.

I first saw this on a Southgate video. The new 2004 Celestial Pictures Region 3 DVD in 2.35 widescreen with rich saturated colours makes you want to watch the film over and over (it also has some very intriguing extras). And it does help to hear the film in its original Mandarin, rather than dubbed!

8.5/10 * a 4 star martial arts classic.

A couple unite - she is fluent in the crane style of kung fu, he in tiger style. They have a son, but the boy's father is killed by the evil eunuch Bai Mei. Disguised as a girl, his mom trains him in crane style while he secretly learns tiger style from his father's training manual.

This was directed by Lau Kar-leung before his "36th Chamber" films, which are arguably some of the best-known kung fu movies ever made. I say "arguably" because my knowledge comes not from being a lover of martial arts films and more from knowing about these movies because of the Wu-Tang Clan (who, incidentally, I am also not really a fan of).

Everything you want is here. The different styles of martial arts (tiger and crane this time), and plenty of choreographed fights that look like complex dances, and the over-the-top sound effects to make each hit hit explosive. Definitely worth a watch for fans of the Shaw Brothers.