A very enjoyable film to say the least. Certainly not the best Hong Kong has to offer, but it is still very good. I especially like the plot of the story. It's nice to a deviation from the typical kung fu movie, of "you killed my brother, now I must avenge him" or the "I'm the best there is, and I'm just going to get better."
I think the best overview of this movie was written by "robotman-2." He very accurately described the main points of the movie, especially the ending where he said "...(The evil monk) eventually turn(s) out to be human in two distinct ways: upon finding redemption, and just before death..." What I think he was trying to say about the movie was: The evil character found redemption just before his death, thus proving him human. The last line spoken by the evil monk was a great line. He said "I must die in order to prove Buddha's existence." This is really great, because earlier on in the movie, one of Buddha's teachings was questioned when a Shaolin monk asked why the Shaolin sect let evil exist, if it went against the teachings of Buddha. And the last line of the bad guy wraps up this question. Terrific!
The dubbing of the movie was slightly Australian influenced, and you could hear it in the voices. A little lacking in emotion at some points, but still very well done. The fight scenes were also well worth watching, especially the very first one between the hero and his Shaolin master before the monk would officially take him as a pupil. It was really goofy to watch a guy trying to learn kung fu from a monk master who wants to eat a whole chicken. Pretty cool stuff.
I really enjoyed the succession of this movie. Everything seemed to fall into place, right down to the last utterance of the bad guy right before he committed suicide. Only a slight hinderance with the dubbing leaves this movie a 6:10. I only give it a 6 because there are some movies out there that kick the pants off of this movie, but are of a different genre. That is why it is hard to give this movie only a 6. Good day gentlemen.
