Shaolin and Wu Tang is pretty good, and fairly entertaining overall. It's a movie that's stuffed with so many martial arts movie narrative conventions it almost feels like a parody. It's got rival martial arts schools, spies, a shadowy villain, revenge, and intensive training scenes playing a part at just the point you'd expect them to be. It crams it all into a runtime of under 90 minutes, but doesn't feel silly enough to be a parody. It's more like a greatest hits compilation; all the good stuff you'd want from a martial arts story (arguably too much).
The action's really good, which is the main thing. It's not as frequently peppered with big scenes as some other martial arts movies, but there's enough. The less action-focused parts of Shaolin and Wu Tang are just fine. It doesn't waste time, and throws enough at you to make sure it's always interesting. The story isn't always charging forward, but non-action scenes tend to be brief in duration, which I think helps with the pacing.
Gordon Liu is also great here, as always. Some sites say he directed this, and some don't, so maybe he co-directed? Or did some scenes? There's not as much reliable info as there should be for a movie this solid, and similarly disappointing is how bad all the versions of it seem to be. This could really do with a remaster, and would deserve it.
Also, goes without saying, but it's definitely easy to recommend for anyone who likes Wu-Tang Clan's music.
