ryan-277

I can't believe I was duped into paying 8 bucks to see this. Siskel, you lied. Hard hitting gritty dialogue? half way through the movie val kilmer starts saying "baby" after every line, making me wonder if i just fell asleep, walked into a different movie and woke up.

Also, the racial sterotypes in this movie made me want to throw my six dollar popcorn at the screen. Arab criminals putting good ole american blondes into sex slaverey? c'mon, given the times we live in, if it's not racist, it's still uncreative!

Also, while everyone else is wearing a suit and tie, the black supporting actor is decked out in baggy urban apparel. sure, he's a rookie but i think he would have a little more class than to show up for his first big assignment dressed like a, wait...STEREOTYPICAL BLACK GUY IN A MOVIE! that, and his character is killed off halfway through the movie without anyone really caring.

While Mamet's work might work wonders on the stage, i found this movie very bland, uncinematic and boring. instead of doing the things a great movie does to you, i couldn't care less about the plot or anyone involved with it.

Holy Robe of Shaolin Temple is a great 80's martial arts flick that fits in alongside movies like THE SOUTH SHAOLIN MASTER. It's a superbly shot and choreographed film with a ton of great acrobatic fast fights.

The tone of the film is pretty serious throughout and the film doesn't fall prey to bad comedic moments alot of other films from the period unfortunatley did.

While it's not exactly a classic, it's a film that's worth seeing if your a fan of the genre as it has some great fight scenes similar to those in SOUTH SHAOLIN MASTER and MARTIAL ART MASTER WONG FEI HUNG and shows the origins of Yu Rongguang who was in some of the better 90's era films like IRON MONKEY, although in this film he plays a villian.

another bonus is that the DVD version is widescreen, although it looks like it was taken from a video master and is a bit washed out looking but still better than the majority of films released by Xenon, it looks similar to their release of "DEADLY CHINA HERO"