AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Steineded How sad is this?

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Leofwine_draca THE SHAOLIN AVENGERS is another in the unconnected Shaolin Temple series of movies by Shaw Brothers' acclaimed director Chang Cheh. This one re-runs some of the events of MEN FROM THE MONASTERY, but otherwise feels less like a Shaolin Temple movie and more like a standard revenge saga. The structure of the movie is against type, with a long-running battle lasting from beginning to end and the rest told in flashbacks throughout.Inevitably, with the talent involved, this turns out to be a top-tier Shaw film with plenty of violent action, expertly-choreographed mayhem, and strong melodrama to enjoy. Alexander Fu Sheng headlines the production and has very few comedy sequences, although some of his fan fighting is funny. Chi Kuan-Chuan does his usual intensity with aplomb, while the underrated Bruce Tong is just as good as the third hero. There's less emphasis on training here, although Fu Sheng soaks himself in a vat of wine for a long time (!), and more emphasis on heroic deaths and bloodshed. Cheh's patented red filter deaths are present and the bad guys are well represented by the likes of Beardy, Lung Fei, and Wang Lung Fei. It's a classic movie sure to be loved by fans of the studio.

poe-48833 Chang Cheh's THE SHAOLIN AVENGERS is a remake of Chang Cheh's MEN FROM THE MONASTERY down to the star(s). (Tod Browning remade THE UNHOLY THREE and Hitchcock THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, to cite but two examples, so the notion of filmmakers taking a second shot at a particular story isn't exactly unheard of.) (Oops. Just goes to show you: you gotta do yer homework. Browning remade London AFTER MIDNIGHT- as MARK OF THE VAMPIRE- and it was Jack Conway who remade THE UNHOLY THREE. Let that be a lesson to all you wannabe movie reviewers out there.) THE SHAOLIN AVENGERS is, as reviewer Brian Camp points out, an even better telling of this particular tale than the original version (one legitimate argument FOR remakes). Fu Sheng's "weak spot" is, I believe, precisely the kind of thing that prevented many martial arts movies from airing on American television over the years (and perhaps STILL, to this day): it's graphic and- shh!- involves anatomical naughty bits that American viewers can't handle (...)... Checker out and see for yourself- if you've got the balls...

Brian Camp THE INVINCIBLE KUNG FU BROTHERS (aka SHAOLIN AVENGERS, 1976) retells the stories of legendary Shaolin fighters Fong Si Yu and Hu Wei Chien, played by Fu Sheng and Chi Kuan-Chun, who played these parts in previous movies. Unlike the other films in Chang Cheh's Shaolin/Fong Si Yu series, this one tells the whole story of Fong, from the killing of his father, his early kung fu training by his mother, and his immersion in the wine baths which make him invulnerable (except for one crucial weak point) to his fight with Tiger Li on the standing log posts to his ultimate battle to the death with the Manchus who burned down Shaolin Temple. (Many of these incidents have turned up in other films, but not all in one sweeping arc as they are here.)The film also relates the story of Hu Wei Chien, who sought revenge for the death of his father and was sent by Fong Si Yu to Shaolin Temple to improve his kung fu skills first. This entire section had already been staged, scene-for-scene, with the same stars two years earlier in MEN FROM THE MONASTERY (aka DISCIPLES OF DEATH), also directed by Chang Cheh. This version actually plays a bit better. The characters are a little more fleshed-out, the production values stronger and the all-important training scenes longer.The film adopts a flashback structure in which the three heroes, Fong, Hu, and Fong's younger brother Sai Yi (played by Billy Tang), confront the Manchu troops and the notorious white-browed priest Pai Mei and engage in a pitched battle, with flashbacks to the characters' pasts intercut at regular intervals. This allows a more seamless interweaving of the two main characters' stories. It's a well-made film and features an abundance of good fights in which the stars take on such formidable villains as Wang Lung-Wei, Leung Kar Yan, Lung Fei and Tsai Hung. It's not in the same class as SHAOLIN MARTIAL ARTS, FIVE MASTERS OF DEATH and DEATH CHAMBER, but it's marginally better than its three predecessors, HEROES TWO, MEN FROM THE MONASTERY and THE INVINCIBLE ONE, neither of which had adequate villains. The entire series remains, of course, required viewing for all serious kung fu buffs.