Shaolin contre Lama

Alexander Rei Lo stars in this movie and this is the 1st movie I seen of his with no ninjas. Even though this film has no ninjas, it's definitely no problem. Shaolin Vs Lama is non stop kung fu excitement from start to finish. This should be a no brainer and mandatory watching for fans of the genre. The dubbing is hilariously bad, the fights are insane and in high quantity. Shaolin Vs Lama will get no complaints from me and a big thumbs up.

I've red many favourable reviews for Shaolin vs. Lama here and on different Kung Fu-movie forums and I have been recommended to see it when asking for good independent flicks that can compete with the Shaw Brothers and Golven Harvest productions of that era. Unfortunately, I'm vastly disappointed, but not to the point where I wouldn't watch it several times again, simply because it's so entertaining.

The English dub is horribly funny, and provides us with some nonsensical dialogue and Australian-sounding voice actors, which adds tons to it's charm. If you like this type of low-budget style dubbed Kung Fu movies, you'll be sure to get lots of laughs out of this one as well. The outrageous characters, especially the Shaolin and Lama monks with the longest white eyebrows you'll ever see and crazy hairstyles don't make the movie any less worth watching, trust me.

The problem I have is the fighting, which I was told would be amazing. I can easily say, it's not. It's very rough, stiff and repetitive, especially if you compare to contemporary Kung Fu movies from Lau Gar-Leung and The Venom Mob. However, there's a lot of talent involved, and many moves and blows are excellently executed. The action is plenty and has a certain cartoonish feeling about it, which together with the obsessive overuse of undercranking to speed up the already wacky choreography, makes the Kung Fu very watchable and entertaining. Bare in mind though that it's not good fighting per se. If you want to see really good fighting in an independent Kung Fu movie, look for classics like: 7 STEPS OF KUNG FU, HELL'Z WINDSTAFF, 7 GRANDMASTERS, DAGGERS 8, and SNAKE DEADLY ACT. I sincerely recommend Shaolin vs. Lama, mostly since in all it's cheesy glory, it's a good way to spend an hour and a half any given day.

This film has good fast fighting as well as i good storyline which is rare for Kungfu films. The dubbing is really good. Ive watched this film over and over again and i've never got bored of this film. I have had this film for around 4 years and even to this day I regularly watch this film with my friends. All of the fight scenes in this film are really excellent, and i reccomend this film to anyone who is interested the Martial Arts.

While Hong Kong created most of the kung fu films people think about when the genre is discussed, Taiwan had a lively industry churning out cheaper but frequently entertaining kung fu movies. While Hong Kong could boast higher production values, the Taiwanese often countered with more action and this film is a great example.

Wandering kung fu student, searching for a teacher who he can't beat up, hooks up with an eccentric Shaolin Temple monk who is an alcoholic and meat eater. The student gets embroiled in the Temple's fight with an ex-disciple, a covert Lama monk, who stole the secret Shaolin fighting manual 12 years earlier. The Lama monk returns and attacks the temple for sheltering a beautiful girl he's trying to kill or marry. There a comedic monk involved also.

OK, nothing unusual plot wise here. There's little in the way of character development at all. We never learn much about the hero besides his search for a teacher. The Shaolin monk is a stock eccentric you've seen in HK films like Shaolin Drunkard. The comedic monk is a stock rascal and the villain is exactly what you would expect from this kind of film. what's great about this film and lifts it above the hundreds of others? First of all the fights are frequent, long and very well done considering the low budget. The actors are almost all excellent martial artists and acrobats. The beautiful girl is the weakest in the cast. The choreography is very complex and ambitious. There are times that it seems the actors are missing movements but it keeps moving along at such a fast pace, the mistakes are soon forgotten. Second, there's quite a bit of Buddhist philosophy in the script and that really lifts the whole film up. It seems that the film was actually shot in a real Buddhist temple and there are actual monks as extras. This temple also shows up in the raucous film "Ninja, the Final Duel".

The scene with the Shaolin monk fighting while eating a chicken is great although the "bad foot" technique he uses is quite disgusting. Most of the monks in this film have insane eyebrows. I've never seen anyone with eyebrow hair like that. And what's with the Shaolin/ Lama feud? Where did that come from and why are there enough films about it that it could be considered a sub-genre?

Unfortunately the only version available is a horrible TV print with Australian dubbing. This makes some of the action tough to watch. Do these films still exist in Taiwan?

It's fun and if a better print ever shows up I'll give it an 8.

This is without a doubt one of the best martial movies ever.If you like Kung-fu movies purely for the kung-fu you'll love this movie.If you love a great kung-fu story you'll love this movie as well.I have to agree with another reviewer this movie is really tough to get sick of and you could easily find yourself watching it once a week if not more.