Avenging Warriors of Shaolin

This is better than the usual kung fu flicks. It is more about the characters than about the action.

Like the other good kung fu films, it involves an isolated faction, in this case one that is determined near the end of the film, in a showdown with another fixed group of antagonists.

The heroes here are total working class heroes, and are quite convincing in character. Sure, we get the same hokey stunts of people jumping 40 feet straight up, but what makes this watchable is that we can follow the characters, even though too many of them look too much alike.

The film introduces our heroes one at a time, and one doesn't appear till near the end. It is the story of three working class men who spend their spare time in improving their martial arts skills.

It is a fun film, and doesn't fall into the trap of simply showing too many acrobatics. There is actual dialog, and an actual story, though we have the usual loss in translation. Still, we get the gist of the story, because we can follow the characters.