Shaolin (2011)

Title: Shaolin (2011)

Director: Benny Chan

Cast: Andy Lau, Jackie Chan

Review:

Ever seen one of those really cheep Kung Fu movies? I mean ultra cheap stuff like The Crippled Masters (1979)? Those movies can be a hell of a lot fun to watch, but their budgetary restraints betray them sometimes. These movies are filled with good Kung Fu action, but are also usually accompanied by bad acting, cheap sets and fake backgrounds. Shaolin, the film I’ll be reviewing today, is the complete opposite of that; its one big, expensive, epic Kung Fu movie! Last time I saw an Asian movie of this magnitude was The Curse of the Golden Flower (2006), one of my favorite Chinese movies ever. It’s just so damn epic and beautiful to look at; to top things off, Chow Yun Fat steals the show as Emperor Ping! Highly recommend that one if you haven’t already seen it. But back to the topic at hand, Shaolin (a.k.a. The New Shaolin Temple) is somewhere along the lines of Curse of the Golden Flower in terms of quality and scale. It’s big, it’s epic, and it’s emotional, and has awesome Kung Fu action!  

 Shaolin tells the story of an Evil Warlord named General Hou Jie. He is fighting against other warlords in China, taking over lands and all that. He has an enormous army that obeys his every whim and desire. Opposite General Hou are the monks of the Shaolin Temple. If you know anything about Shaolin Monks, then you know that they are all about peace, and helping their fellow man. At heart, Shaolin Monks are portrayed as humanitarians in many films. They also train in martial arts a.k.a. Kung Fu, but this does not mean that they are violent people. They will do everything in their power to avoid violence and fighting. Their purpose in life is to help others, no matter their political or religious background. To the Shaolin Monks, a human is a human, and we should all help each other because it is their belief that all life is sacred. The real problem comes when the Shaolin Monks begin to aid enemies of General Hou Jie, who arrive at the temple looking for a helping hand. General Hou sees this as an act of treason and invades the temple, looking to give the Shaolin Monks a lesson. Will the monks change their ways? Will General Hou ever learn the value of human life?

 So I loved this movie for many reasons, first of which is that it takes the evil Warlord and shows him some humility. Sometimes governments can act cold and cruelly towards their people. Since they are so high up, “the people” are nothing but a workforce to them, a side note in their all important powerful lives. The people are the “little people”. Their pleads, not to be heard. And should anyone oppose, well, they die. But what would happen if the selfish and powerful political leader where to trade places with the people he rules over? What if he was to loose all his power, and taught a thing or two about what it means to work for your food, to suffer poverty, to care for your fellow man? What if they were taught somehow to be humble and caring instead of cold and greedy? These are the questions that this film asks and answers and I loved that about Shaolin. It’s the kind of movie that speaks for the people. It reminded me in many ways of Takashi Miike’s recent 13Assassins (2011), in which the Samurais gang up to bring the evil ruler to his knees. In 13 Assassins the Samurais speak with the tyrant face to face, letting him know all the mistakes his made while in government. In Shaolin, the greedy government is humbled down.

 Aside from that, there’s the Shaolin Temple, which is a wonder all on its own. I’ve always liked the idea of the Shaolin Temple a lot because it’s this magical place where love, humility, respect and selflessness is taught. But the Shaolin Temple does not train cowards; the monks also train in martial arts, for if their peaceful way of life is ever threatened, well then a good ass kicking is on your way. It’s a fantastic idea, the Shaolin Temple is a place where you can live a good, peaceful life, where you can find food and shelter, not unlike some churches of the world. The Shaolin Monks worship their god in peace and care for their fellow man. I respect that. I can see why the government of those days would hate the Shaolin Temple. The Shaolin way of life was always in discordance with the evil Warlords that governed in those days. Those Warlords only cared about conquering, killing and destroying anything in their path. So the monks of the temple and their governments where always in contrast with each other; one side loves and respects life, while the other seeks to destroy it. There are some really tense moments in this movie, when the Warlord invades the temple that are awesome! The monks literally  protect their way life with their advanced Kung-Fu skills! Some of the monks go no their own personal Robin Hood like quest and deside to become bandits in the name of the people. Stealing or “borrowing” from the rich to give to the poor.

The production values for this movie were really good! They didn’t use the real Shaolin Temples because they didn’t want to damage them while making the film so they did the next best thing, they built their own Shaolin Temple! The sets on this movie are pretty impressive; I love it when they go all out like that. Same thing happened with Curse of the Golden Flower where they built these amazingly expensive sets. Chinese filmmakers have that about them; they really go all out with their movies, when they have the funding for it, they really give it their all to make a special film, and this is a fine example of that. Also, they don’t skimp on running time for their films; this is not the first Chinese film I see that lasts more than two hours! But honestly, I didn’t care how long it was because ultimately I was devouring everything I was seeing on screen.  

Jackie Chan makes an appearance in this movie as the cook of the Shaolin Temple, he plays more than just a cameo, but his character was obviously kind of tacked onto the film to attract more people into the seats, the movie could have easily moved on without his character. But, Chan does this a lot, he makes small appearances in films. On Shaolin he plays a cook who’s never left the Shaolin Temple, but has desires to go out and see the world, yet he hesitates in doing it. I liked the idea behind his character. This is a guy who’s been doing the samething all his life, and now he is aching to go out and see the world. This character spoke about breaking with a comfort zone and going out and doing what you’ve always wanted to do with your life, so it’s kind of like a side story, but it’s a good one. Still, Chan has his chance to Kung Fu fight in one sequences that is inventive and entertaining, Chan uses cooking techniques to fight against the invading army!

 This film was a huge money maker all over China, it premiered number one at the box office in Hong Kong and broke box office records in Malaysia. The film was directed by Benny Chan, the same director behind Jackie Chan’s New Police Story (2004), a explosion filled action film that I highly recommend, actually New Police Story has one of the biggest explosions I’ve ever seen on any movie! Ever! Recommend that one if your in the mood for some high octane action. I was not aware of this when I watched it, but Shaolin is a remake of a Jet Li film called The Shaolin Temple (1982), which by the way was Jet Li’s debut role, I’ve never seen that one, but now I’m looking for it. This version stars Andy Lau, one of China’s biggest movie stars in the role of General Hou Jie. Bottom line with Shaolin is that it’s lavish and emotional and action packed: highly recommend this must-see Kun Fu blockbuster!

Rating: 5 out of 5  

The Karate Kid (2010)

Title: The Karate Kid (2010)

Director: Harald Zwart

Cast: Jackie Chan, Jaden Smith

Review:

When I first heard about this remake I was a bit reluctant in accepting the idea. Isn’t that the expected reaction when a film you love is about to get the remake treatment? But, in spite of all the hatred remakes get, I always give them the benefit of the doubt, because who knows, it might turn out to be one of the good ones. For this remake, they gave the role of the karate kid to Jaden Smith, Will Smith’s kid. The young actor has proven himself to be something of a wunderkind, showing his acting chops on various films like The Pursuit of Happiness (2006) in which he acted side by side with his father in more than one tear jerking scene. He also appeared in The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) a science fiction film in which Jaden Smith got to act alongside Keanu Reeves and a lot of CGI effects. Impressive resume this kid is building for himself. But, his mom and dad are both actors, Will Smith being one of the biggest stars on the planet, so maybe the Jaden Smith is more of a damn lucky kid than a great actor, but hey, the kid has got one foot in the door and has been brought up in the filmmaking business. By now, the kid must know his way around a film set, and he’s obviously being coached by his dad in the acting business, so who knows, this kid just might be the next big star. He knows it too and he is taking the ride, cant say I blame him. With the help of mom and dad of course; both of whom produced this film as a starring vehicle for their son. So, how did this Karate Kid compare to its 1984 counterpart?

For those of you who never got to see the original Karate Kid with Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita, this film tells the tale of young Daniel Larusso, a 17 year old teenager who lives with his working mom. They just moved into a new home and Daniel is having a hard time adapting to the place. He tries going out with a girl, but some bullies from a local karate school don’t allow him to, so he decides to take Karate lessons from his Japanese landlord, Mr. Miyagi. This new film changes things around a bit. This time, the titular Karate Kid is a 12 year old American boy who is suddenly forced to move to China with his mother. While there, he has a difficult time adapting to life in China, he doesn’t know the language, he has no friends, he doesn’t know Karate. When the bullies in town don’t like it that he is hitting on a Chinese girl, they beat him up and tell him to stay away. So, same as in the original film, Dre decides to let his landlord, a Chinese man named Mr. Han, teach him the secrets of Kung Fu. Will, Dre ever adapt to life in china? Will Dre be able to face his fears and conquer them?

As was expected, there are a few differences between this new film and the original. The main one being that the Karate Kid doesn’t actually learn karate in the film, he actually learns Kung Fu. The title of the film actually shows an amount of ignorance on the filmmakers, because there is a distinctive difference between Karate and Kung Fu. Karate comes from Japan and Kung Fu comes from China. And they are both different in techniques and nature. I’m sure the filmmakers knew about his difference, but chose to ignore it. Well, at least in the films North American release they did; In Asian countries this film was released under the more appropriate title “The Kung-Fu Kid”. In the film, Dre’s mother addresses this issue and says “Karate, Kung-Fu, whatever!” And that’s as much importance as the filmmakers decided to give the matter in the film. I guess they thought Americans would not know the difference between Karate and Kung Fu and decided to not make that big of a deal about it. Bad move on their side I say. I would have actually preferred the title “The Kung Fu Kid”. But whatever. I guess they wanted American audiences to connect with this new film by the nostalgia they have for the old one. Still, it makes the films producers look really stupid.

But whatever; on to the movie itself. So the changes between this and the original go as follows:

-Tha Karate Kid changed names from Daniel Larusso to Dre Parker.

-The Karate Kid changes ethnicities. This time around he is black.

-The Karate Kid is not 17, but 12 years old.

-The Karate Kid and his mom move to China.

-Mr. Miyagi is now called “Mr. Han”, and is played by Jackie Chan. He isn’t from Okinawa, Japan like in the original film. On this film Mr. Han is Chinese.

-We go from “wax-on, wax-off” to “jacket on, jacket off”

-The final kick is slightly different.

So with these differences aside, the remake is essentially the same film, step by step. Which can get kind of boring if you have seen the original Karate Kid a gazillion times, like I had. I knew everything that was going to happen every step of the way, so in that way, the movie might turn out to be a bit redundant for some viewers. But this new Karate Kid does have a couple of good things going for it. Number one, I think this is one of Jackie Chan’s best performances ever. One slight change that they made on the Mr. Miyagi character is that he is no longer a war veteran, this time around he lost his entire family in a car accident, so he gets drunk and angry every day the same year. One scene has Jackie Chan crying his heart out because he remembers his family, and he can’t deal with the loss. That scene has got to be Jackie Chan’s best bit of acting ever! It also proves to be one of the most touching moments in the film, because Dre decides to help him forget about his pain by asking Mr. Han to train him more. Jaden Smith ends up being likable in his role and actually lives up to the word “kid” in the title, unfortunately when compared to Daniel Larusso, Dre comes off as too cocky, what I liked about the original character kid was his vulnerability and humility towards Mr. Miyagi, on this one Dre comes off more as an angry kid. It certainly isn't the same Karate Kid we saw on the original film, Dre has his own personality. 

The issue of age is something that has formed a bit of a debate. On the original one Daniel was 17 and on this one, Dre is 12. On the original Daniel gets in trouble because he wants to go out with a girl who hangs out with a bunch of karate students. He has to deal with these bullies who use karate in a negative way. Which sounds like something that might happen to a 17 year old. But on this new film, Jaden Smith’s Dre is only 12. and he falls in love with a young Chinese girl. Some people feel that he might be too young for that sort of thing. The violence between the bullies and Dre, who are about the same age has been criticized as well. Some think that the violence is too harsh for kids of their age. I say, kids fall in love at a very young age, and bullies will always exist. Especially when you are around the age of 12. So about the age debate, I don’t think it’s even relevant. This is the Karate “kid” we are talking about here. Dealing with bullies and discovering girls go with the territory at that age.

The one thing that I enjoyed the most about this new film is that it has heart and emotion. It doesn’t cheapen the film by turning it into an action film or relying on a bunch of wire fu or gee whiz special effects. Nope, this film is about people, and a story, and emotions and overcoming ones fears, which was great. A breath of fresh air, a break from all the freaking CGI that plagues every single movie you see nowadays. I also enjoyed the fact that it was actually shot in China. The locations, the actors, the exteriors all give the film an authenticity that could not have been achieved had they not shot it in China. I mean, you can just tell when a location is being faked with CGI or matte paintings, but this time around, it looks genuine because it is. This time around, the Karate Kid trains on the spectacular Walls of China! He visits a bonafide Shaolin freaking temple in the middle of the mountains! He visits The Forbidden Temple, I mean; all these exotic locations simply help make the films look all the more spectacular and grand. In this way, I say this film tops the original. My last thoughts on the film: for those of you who have never watched the original Karate Kid films, this should be an endearing, heartfelt movie. For those of you who have seen the original, even though its similar in many ways to the original, it still has many good things about it, and a few surprises. It should still be an entertaining watch none the less.

Rating: 3 ½ out of 5