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What can I say? Shaolin Soccer is definately one of the all time Stephen Chow greats. It's funny, it is very well directed (especially the wide shots of the games) and it actually has a few "serious" moments. I really got into the film, although I knew it was going to be a spoof, I didn't realise there was going to be that much CG graphics in the movie but that just enhanced the film more. The end match had so many special moves and over the top martial arts it was like seeing a Manfred Wong comic. A must watch for fans and non-fans alike, especially if you like King of Comedy.

The story tries to blend in with real life characters during the Boxer Rebellion with the character Wong fei-hung (who is set at that period), for those who dont know the history dont worry about it. The movie has everything an audience needs, action, humour but not much romance, which is okay. There is always the running tension between Auntie 13 and Fei-Hung.

I believe this has some of the best martial-arts choreography throughout the whole genre. Yes there is plenty of wire-work, but that is how Hong Kong films are made. Rather than have the realistic fights like how the American's film...the Chinese prefers the fantasy-style where everything is exaggerated. So the overall genre fits in with the old Shaw Brothers classic. Donny Yen and Jet Lee are trained Martial Artists by nature therefore uses much wire-work, unlike Jackie Chan who is a trained Opera Singer/Dancer..his moves are based on what he has learned over the years on stage which are basically, jumping, dodging and acrobatics.

Yet people are still trying to compare this film with other American movies. I respect other people's views, but constantly comparing with other films of a totally different genre is not the point.

I have seen a massive amount of Chinese and American Martial Art films and I am glad that the Americans are finally catching up. Hong Kong cinema is not exactly the best in their quality of films and storyline, but when it comes to action (especially Fantasy-style Martial Arts) they are the best.

At first I thought "Romeo Must Die" was a pretty good movie at first, but then I watched it again on DVD and found a lot of mistakes in the film (most of the goofs on IMDB are from me). I literally tore the film apart.

What I do not understand is how such veterans in choreography such as Jet Li and Cory Yeun, do jobs that make them look like amatuers? On most of the stringwork you can see the actors hold on to invisible wires, most obvious in the last fight scene and the double barrel kick in the club near the begining of the movie. It is obvious to Jet Li fans that Computer Generated Images were not needed, if Hong Kong films can make fight scenes better than this, using old fashioned cinematography why can't the Americans?

Hollywood just can't get the fact they are not the best in certain areas.

Even with this failure, I still look forward to Jet Li's next film as I am a fan of his. I just hope the film does not bring down yet another fine import from Hong Kong.