Shaolin Temple 3: Martial Arts of Shaolin (1986)

Moral conundrum, it's not okay to feed a worm to a baby bird to keep it alive, thus killing the worm, but it is okay to murder a despot. I wasn't the only one confused by the Shaolin ethical dilemma of killing, though it didn't take the monks long to figure out where they stood.

Jet Li played the Shaolin monk, Zhi Ming, from one of the northern schools. When he hears that the tyrant who killed his parents is having an extravagant birthday bash, he determines it's time to take a short vacation from martial arts training and meditating to kill the man. Little does he know that two members of the southern Shaolin school with a grudge against the evil Big Bad have chosen the same event for their assassination attempt. One of the southern Shaolin would be assassins was a woman dressed as a man which I've ceased to have a problem with after watching a number of kung fu movies and Cdramas. She of course, has a childhood connection to Zhi Ming. The three don costumes to perform in the lion dance spectacle only managing to get in each other's way and failing in their mission. They managed to escape together arguing and fighting until it became tedious. Fortunately, once they realized they were all part of the larger Shaolin family the bickering toned down.

The early "comedic" parts were a bit tiring for me. The plot development was also extremely sparse, leaving huge gaps in the storytelling. I wanted to tell everyone to take a deep breath as the pacing was frenetic at times as well. People ran everywhere, horses were sped up, every movement outside of the fights made it seem as if the actors' pants were on fire. Sometimes the audience needs a little "white space" to process the story and take a breath along with the actors. My other complaint with this movie is the OST. The same awful music is repeated ad nauseum until it made my ears bleed. I've truly never heard a worse soundtrack in a kung fu movie, any movie for that matter.

A favorite of mine, Lau Kar Leung, directed this Chinese movie with a Shaw Brothers crew and it showed. With the exception of the stunning mainland China outdoors scenery including the Great Wall and temples, this felt like it could be a Hong Kong production. I imagine Lau Kar Leung was thrilled to be able to choreograph fight scenes for Jet Li and the extremely capable actors/martial artists in this film. There was very little wire or trampoline work, the huge fight scenes were executed with grace and finesse. The fists, kicks, and swords were swift and accurate. The story was secondary in every way to the incredible fight choreography. Jet Li was in his prime and most likely had to slow his movements for the camera to pick them up, they were shockingly fast as it was. I loved the mantis fighting near the end of the movie.

I wouldn't recommend Martial Arts of Shaolin for the music, story, or acting, but the fight scenes and a lightning-fast Jet Li are definitely worth the price of admission for any kung fu enthusiast.

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High-flying athleticism and extraordinary beauty

A wonderfully energetic showcase of high-flying athleticism and extraordinary beauty, Martial Arts of Shaolin is a spectacular, fast-paced and frequently sensational celebration of Lau Kar-leung's love for less fantastical martial arts, constantly pushing for the tenets of discipline, pacifism and tolerance. It's far less traditional than most of the typical Shaw Brothers output. There's no set or soundstage to be found here, with beautiful mountains, ancient cities and temples, and rolling green pastures hosting hundreds of extras in a lavish, large-scale epic. It does boast some fairly interesting meditations on Buddhism and the limits of pacifism in the face of injustice. However, this is about as straight-laced a revenge story as you could ask for, although the motivation for said revenge isn't even revealed until the very end; thus, it looks like the characters are just being arseholes to everyone they meet, it's a story that only exists to provide a framework for increasingly elaborate displays of physical skill and in that department, it's no slouch. Lau's direction is sublime; every bout feels like a natural one-upmanship of each other. Fights are fast without becoming incomprehensible, with a wonderful amount of variety, from traditional weapons combat to hand-to-hand duels and large-scale confrontations; the sheer physicality is exceptional. As one of Jet Li's earliest performances, there's a ripe youthful vigour about it, effortlessly switching between comedy and commanding when required; he has a tremendous screen presence, even when he is doing very little beyond demonstrating how impossibly fast he can move. He is astonishing. His speed, balance and precision are almost unreal, whether he is fighting with his bare hands, staff, sword or other weapons. The climax is where everything comes together, and after the slower character and training material, the film unleashes a succession of increasingly elaborate fights, culminating in a spectacular final confrontation. By this point, Martial Arts of Shaolin's relatively thin and increasingly uneven story hardly matters: the sheer skill of the performers and Lau's choreography provide all the momentum necessary, although far from one of his deepest or most sophisticated films, judging it purely as a showcase for classical kung fu, it is enormously entertaining.

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