American Shaolin

Having been a great fan of the No retreat No Surrender films and King Of The Kickboxers since I was a boy in the 80's I had never got around to seeing this sequel to the series.

As a direct sequel to King Of The Kickboxers first off I must say that its no where near as good. The acting is more atrocious than usual in these kinds of films but the big flaw is that the fight's are almost no- where to be seen and for a martial arts film that's bad news. After the opening fight almost an hour passes with no action whatsoever. The ones that do crop up are acceptably choreographed but are slow, short and lack the intensity of any of the previous films due to some slow movements and very tight close camera-work.

It's an OK film though, most likely because it is a complete rip off of Bruce Lee's Kung-Fu starring David Carradine. A few monks talking with American accents sort of spoil the feel and the main character is pretty unlikable and a bit arrogant.

A few more regular fights and more imaginative choreography and it would have been great but as it stands it's not a patch on King of the Kickboxers, or any of the Karate Tiger series for that matter.

An unofficial follow-up to the No Retreat, No Surrender movies and King of the Kickboxers, this movie continues to entertain with the same amount of quality as the earlier movies. Being the first movie in this series without Loren Avedon, it still delivers on all levels. And by that I mean it delivers on the fighting. The action is great. The rest of the movie is just total goofiness of the highest order, and that's the way it should be. It's a really lighthearted movie where the focus is on the action and the fact that you just don't take it seriously at all. Sit back, enjoy this movie for what it's worth and have a great time.

This was a great martial arts film. The action sequences are exciting and fast paced. The Shaolin training sequences was a highlight, especially when the new monks demonstrated with weapons. Reese Madigan was a bit annoying, but he still can prove he is a tough fighter on screen. I don't know how they did it, but they made non-martial artist Trent Bushy look great as the evil Trevor. A must-see for all fans of martial arts films.

American Shaolin is undoubtibly one of the best film ever made. It is a brilliant concoction of humour, action and excitement. I was mezmerised whilst watching it, at its greatness and anticipated eagerly for the outcome of events. It is an utter masterpiece in movie making and hasn't got the credit it deserves. It is an excellently made film and is exciting all the way through. I watch it at least once everyday, sometimes twice. Thats how brilliant it is. Well done Lucas Lowe for creating such a magnificent piece of work!! "the tiger grasps the pearls."

Yeah, the only song this entire movie had (that I could remember) was "The Shaolin Temple Blues" which really didn't sound like the blues at all, but instead a strange perversion of a Bruce Springsteen song. All of the lyrics are about working minimum wage and going out on dates Saturday Night... But the chorus says "Shaolin Temple Blues", not "Summertime Blues" like they sing at first. Of course, this can all be forgiven once we are shown Shaolin Monks playing Air Guitar.

The movie's story is about as run-of-the-mill as run-of-the-mill can get. Ugly American (and BOY is he ugh-lee this time around!) gets beaten and humiliated in the first 5 minutes of the movie, then goes and gets trained by someone who doesn't accept him at first, until he begins to understand the ways of the martial arts. From that point, he goes on to defeat the bad guy in the last 5 minutes of the movie.

This happened in "The Karate Kid", "No Retreat, No Surrender", and countless others! Even "KING OF THE KICKBOXERS PART ONE"!

Anyway, Corey Yuen did the fight coreography for this film, and it shows by the overall quality. Unfortunately, the bright spots seen are overshadowed by some astoundingly bad parts... whether it be the Shaolin Temple getting exposed to Playboy Magazine, a group of Shaolin Monks going to a high school dance, or Drew poplocking in front of his fellow student monks. What can I say? It's goofy as all hell.

For $6.99 on DVD, I can't really say it's a loss of money, but at the same time you'd be better off sticking with something else. At least "No Retreat, No Surrender" has Jean-Claude Van Damme.

One last note: Am I the only person here disturbed by the fact that the only way the main villain seems to be able to win a fight is by pulling down his opponent's pants?!