The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
50 Years Later The 36th Chamber of Shaolin Endures as a Kung Fu Classic
The film stars then-newcomer Chia-hui "Gordon" Liu, a Yul Brynner lookalike in the story of real life Chinese folk hero San Te, a young man who joins the Shaolin Temple to learn kung fu to teach the people of his village how to fight back against the Ming Dynasty thugs who oppress them. What follows is an extended series of training scenes as San Te learns kung fu by performing what seems at times to be meaningless tasks in various "chambers" of the Temple.
Therein lies both the film's greatest appeal, as well as its greatest weakness. To fans of martial arts, the realism and discipline in the rigorous training is the highlight of the film; it doesn't get any more pure than that. On the other hand for more general audiences, the plot seems stuck in neutral while we spend nearly half the film's running time with the hero in training for his future revenge plans.
Nevertheless, the influence of the film can't be denied. Nearly all subsequent martial arts films, including American films like The Karate Kid and Kill Bill, owe at least their training sequences, if not more to The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, not to mention other stuff films like The Empire Strikes Back, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and the music of the Wu-Tang Clan.
The Good:
- the cinematography and fight choreography are top-notch
- bits of Buddhist philosophy
- takes the patience of a Buddhist monk
- an opening credit sequence of Liu practicing kung fu is almost ballet-like in beauty
- perhaps the best fight scene involving a three-section staff (sānjiégùn) ever filmed
The Verdict:
**** out of *****
