Shaolin contre ninja

this is for the action.not acting.i know people make fun of the "praise be to buddah" thing but seriously though.the fighting techniques are to be appreciated and maybe even studied if your into martial arts.these monks devote their entire lives to this supreme regimen and style that they incorporate.the weapons fighting is classical ancient style.just like in the ancient battles of the far east. i was mesmerized and i admit to having a few laughs but it was'nt in laughing at the movie.it was rather the type that i do at seeing something so awesome it astounds me to the point of laughing. it was extremely serious.not an upbeat type of flick that you'd expect in the karate kid tradition.no charasmatic characters either. the acting of course is going to seem subpar to many but this is what it's really about when it comes to hard core martial artistry.it's not about having all this plot and drama.i know this explanation is cliche but this is the shaw brothers/wu tang series.it's about all out no nonsense and no show off cry babies.these intricit techniques are to be appreciated and learned from.this is'nt about learning to be an actor.it's more about learning to be a real warrior. rating. 8/10.

I'll be completely honest here straight away.....although there is a plot of sorts present within this film, it really only serves as a superficial excuse for a showcase of one and a half hours worth of some truly awesome martial arts displays.

This is first and foremost a fighting movie, and as such I believe it most equitable to judge it predominantly upon those merits as opposed to acting, character development etc.

As such, and upon the proposed criteria, I must say that the film in question does come out as a top class act indeed.

There is some truly astonishing martial arts choreography in this, especially the weapons displays during the tournament between the Japanese stylists and the Shaolin Monks.

If there is one criticism I would launch against this film however - and it is a factor which does deduct from the overall entertainment value, it would have to be the rather tiresome stereotypical portrayal of the Japanese protagonists as villainous barbarians with inferior martial arts and moral values, an all too common and sad trend in many kung fu films.

Still, overlooking this factor, for those seeking to witness the veritable beauty of some of the orients fighting arts and the skills and dedication of the practitioners of them, this movie is definitely well worth a look.

Shaolin vs Ninja is a nonstop mind blowing fight fest, the best and most coherent outing from Robert Tai, the Taiwanese madcap maverick (see also 'Ninja final' duel & 'Shaolin Dolemite') In this 'Chinese vs Japanese' sub-genre we see the typical portrayal of the Japanese as evil bloodthirsty thugs, and the Chinese fighting coming out tops over the inferior Japanese style. The martial arts scenes (which is most of the movie) are second to none, the choreography and ability of the performers are mind blowing (all pro martial artists here). One of my favorite scenes is the tournament in the court yard, where the Chinese are pitched against the Japs(funnily enough) in a series of bouts which are breathtaking in their execution. There's a cameo from director Robert Tai here also.

People complaining about the plot (or lack of), the character development and silly dubbing are missing the point, this is a madcap fight fest, which also has some well impressive super sized Buddha statues. "Amor Tofo"

The movie itself is not very good. The problem with this movie is that we don't have a main character to follow. There's too much look alike monks and it's kind of hard to know who is who. The ninjas are a little bit boring in this film , but watch out for the shaolin monks...they rule. I watched it in french and the "Praise be to buddha" thing was incomprehensible. Maybe this expression has not been translate in french...You may give this movie a 4(out of 10), like me, if you watch it for the fights.

Great fights throughout, any viewer looking for excellent choreography, this is a must see.