Shi ba luo han zhen

It starts with Carter Wong fighting Chang Yi and defeating him with a groin attack that made him a eunuch but left him alive and wanting to fight again. Carter goes to Shaolin Temple where it gets all philosophical. He is condemned for killing. He can face the formation and if he wins he will be forgiven but if he loses he will be killed. Yes, that makes no sense. He defeats the formation. In this fight and the first he was carrying a baby on his back. He gives his son up to return to Shaolin.

Mang Fei is his son and he grows up in the next scene. He is on an escort job with Hsu Feng. A gang is about to rob them. He defeats them in a very good fight by mocking their fighting styles. Hsu Feng disapproves.

The movie gets preachy about "do not fight" and "do not kill". I always find these themes simply annoying. The worst thing about the story is all the mystery such as "who is my real father" is a mystery only to the characters. The audience knows all the answers to the questions. The movie also tries for an epic mood like the classics such as "Dragon Inn" but falls short. It also throws a twist on the final fight by having a final conversation instead.

My copy is the VHS format with the square video and English dubbing. The title screen actually has "8 Shaolim Disciple". The voice over actors force the words to match the mouth movements and often overdo it but otherwise are not annoying. That is actually a compliment and you know how bad some dubbing can be in these movies. I agree with the other reviews here that the movie could have been better and rate it just below average for the year and genre.