User reviews

This movie is one of the many "Kung Fu" action films made in Asia in the late '70s - early '80s, full of cheap sound effects, dubbed dialog and lightning fast martial arts action. But unlike most films of this genre it also has a decent plot and lots of great comedy. When workers of a dye factory are forced out of their jobs by Manchu bullies, they hire a con-artist (Gordon Liu) to try to scare them off. When his attempt fails miserably, he cons his way into a Shaolin temple to learn to fight for real. But instead of making him a Kung-Fu student, the Master instead orders him to build a scaffolding to cover the roofs of all 36 chambers. Well, it turns out that while he's performing these menial tasks (stacking and tying bamboo poles) that he's learning the skills to be a Kung-Fu expert! It's sort of like in Karate Kid when Mr. Miagi teaches Daniel the basics of karate by having him do routine household chores- "Wax on, wax off" et cetera. There's lots of great comedy from beginning to end, and plenty of action at the end when Gordon Liu once again faces his Manchu tormentors. "This time it's not just tricks- it's the real thing!" Liu declares, proudly thumping his chest. If you like classic Kung Fu films you don't want to miss this one!

I was disappointed my this movie. I wasn't expecting it to be better then the first one, but the comedic element definitely hindered it.

Gordon Liu once again stars, but his time he plays an actor impersonating his character from the first one. It is an interesting concept. Basically the plot is the same. The manchus are oppressing a dye factory and hire someone who looks like San Te to fool the manchus. Gordon gets his butt kicked so he goes to Shaolin to actually become a shaolin master. Once he learns kung fu he goes back and frees the dye workers.

Its not a bad film, but all the comedic parts got really annoying. I am a big Gordon Liu fan, but a consider this one of his weakest roles.

This film is absolutely awesome. I saw it with my brother when we were kids, and we found it hilarious.

I'm not sure if it's supposed to be funny, but by god we were hurting by the end! Like the bit where he showing the bad guys what he's learned at the Shaolin temple, and he's working his way up from showing them a mere 50% of his new powers, to "the full 90%".... What happened to 100%?

And the bit where, in order to show his pals what he's learned, he beats them all up! He whacks his best mate in the stomach, and his mate (who has teeth that are literally about two inches long sticking out of his mouth), bends over and exclaims; "eeeeuuuuurgh, GREAT KUNG FUUUUUU". It's a classic movie moment!

If you have chance to see this film, do it. It's brilliant!

Return to the 36th Chamber is one of those classic Kung-Fu movies which Shaw produces back in the 70s and 80s, whose genre is equivalent to the spaghetti westerns of Hollywood, and the protagonist Gordon Liu, the counterpart to the western's Clint Eastwood. Digitally remastered and a new print made for the Fantastic Film Fest, this is "Presented in Shaw Scope", just like the good old days.

This film is a simple story of good versus evil, told in 3 acts, which more or less sums up the narrative of martial arts films in that era.

Act One sets up the premise. Workers in a dye-mill of a small village are unhappy with their lot, having their wages cut by 20% by incoming manchu gangsters. They can't do much about their exploitation because none of them are martial arts skilled to take on the gangsters, and their boss. At first they had a minor success in getting Liu to impersonate a highly skilled Shaolin monk (one of the best comedy sequences), but their rouse got exposed when they pushed the limit of credibility by impersonating one too many times.

Act Two shows the protagonist wanting to get back at the mob. However, without real martial arts, he embarks on a journey to Shaolin Temple, to try and infiltrate and learn martial arts on the sly. After some slapstick moments, he finally gets accepted by the abbot (whom he impersonated!) but is disappointed at the teaching methods - kinda like Mr Miyagi's style in Karate Kid, but instead of painting fences, he gets to erect scaffoldings all around the temple. Nothing can keep a good man down, and he unwittingly builds strength, endurance and learns kung-fu the unorthodox way.

Act Three is where the fight fest begins. With cheesy sound effects, each obvious non-contact on film is given the maximum impact treatment. But it is rather refreshing watching the fight scenes here, with its wide angled shots to highlight clarity and detail between the sparring partners, and the use of slow-motion only to showcase stunts in different angles. You may find the speed of fights a tad too slow, with some pause in between moves, but with Yuen Wo Ping and his style being used ad-nausem in Hollywood flicks, they sure don't make fight scenes like they used to! Return to the 36th chamber gets a repeat screening on Monday, so, if you're game for a nostalgic trip down memory lane, what are you waiting for?

The workers of a dye factory have their pay cut by 20% when the factory owner brings in some Manchu thugs to try and increase production. Desperate to reclaim their full wages, the workers hire an actor to impersonate a priest and kung-fu expert from the temple of Shaolin.

Director Lau Kar-leung excels in this action-comedy. When I think Shaw Brothers kung fu, I think of Chang Cheh, which may be very narrow of me (I am still learning). But Lau is every bit as great, and in some ways maybe even greater, because although much of this looks like a Shaw action film, the comedy is excellent, clearly drawing on old-school American slapstick.

I agree with another user here and have to say that this is one of the best Kung Fu movies ever! I watched this as a kid and absolutely loved it! The scaffolding scenes are brilliant and you can really empathise with this guy because he is treated as an outcast. Nice humour and fantastic kung fu this movie rocks! If you like Kung Fu you would love this!!!

This is a good movie. It doesn't really compare to the first film, but it's funny and enjoyable. Gordon Liu is good in this role, and the training chambers are cool. The fight scenes are classic. This is a fun flick, but I wonder if it wouldn't have been better without the comedic elements.

I thought this would be a sequel to the original "36th Chamber of Shaolin" but actually it's more of a light-hearted "sister" to the original. Gordon Liu still stars as a would-be hero on a quest to learn kung fu to defeat those pesky Manchus... but this time around it's lighter and more comedic. The film centres around the local dye mill, where wages are cut due to the hiring of 10 new Manchurian bosses. Liu plays "Chao", who is able to fool the mill bosses into thinking he is a shaolin monk possessing almost magical kung fu skill. But his luck runs out, he is exposed as a fraud, and he promises the mill workers that he will go to the Shaolin monastery to learn kung fu, and return to protect them.

The comedy really begins at the monastery where Chao makes several bungling attempts to get accepted. This sets up lots of really funny moments, and lots of great fight choreography. Continuing in the "36th Chamber" tradition we see all kinds of neat and interesting (and supremely hokey) training methods at the monastery as well as creative uses of wooden benches as weapons.

Also unique and of note is the blending of kung fu and the craft of bamboo scaffold building. Chao is not accepted as a student at Shaolin but is made to build bamboo scaffolding for the "10 year restoration" of the monastery. On the DVD I bought there is a special on bamboo scaffold building and the inspiration that director Lau Kar-Leung drew from it. This is a craft many hundreds (perhaps thousands) of years old, and in Hong Kong scaffolding is still built of bamboo even on large high-rises, though the West exclusively uses steel tubes and clamps. As a result of his scaffolding work, Chao develops a special style of kung fu... when asked what kind it is, he hilariously replies "scaffolding kung fu!!" which he first tests during a dust-up with the monastery's Abbot. In the final confrontation with the Manchus, there is a dazzling array of creative uses for bamboo poles and ties.

From a comedy perspective, I think it's one of the best of the kung fu genre. As a kung fu film in general, it also stands out... I recommend it to anyone!

This movie has a lot of comedy, not dark and Gordon Liu shines in this one. He displays his comical side and it was really weird seeing him get beat up. His training is "unorthodox" and who would've thought knot tying could be so deadly?? Lots of great stunts and choreography. Very creative!

Add Johnny Wang in the mix and you've got an awesome final showdown! Don't mess with Manchu thugs; they're ruthless!

I was wondering how they'd make a sequel when the main character of the first movie was basically an invincible warrior by the end. The solution is equal parts clever and baffling; it definitely wasn't what I was expecting.

It's far more comedic than the first 36th Chamber of Shaolin movie, and though it features Gordon Liu again, he's not exactly doing what you'd expect (I'll leave it at that; I feel like it's almost a twist, the way this movie subverts expectations when it comes to even its core premise).

It's amusing, but also a little unsatisfying as an action movie. Sometimes, when it recreates elements of the first one, it falls a little flat. It's a messy, odd sequel, but certainly a novel one that I can respect in an odd way.

Perhaps why I am so harsh on this film is because of how high the first film set the bar for the Kung-Fu genre.

Though it is abundantly clear that this film is more comedic in nature, it fails at surpassing or even being remotely equal to the first. Though I shall give the film some credit and say that the pre-training act was actually quite entertaining, with this con-man BSing his way into posing as a Monk, the moment he starts training, I found that the film did not grip me nearly as much as the first did with its different levels of becoming a monk. The final fight scene at the end of the film is also pretty fantastic, and in my opinion better than anything we see in the first film, with the protagonist making excellent use of a stool, however, this one fight sequence is simply not worth slogging through the boring middle act.

I still do not understand the odd decision to cast Gordan Liu in a sequel to his first film, only to have him star as a COMPLETELY different character, let alone one who is fraudulent con-man and a polar opposite to San Te. Regardless, he plays the role very well in spite of the flms sub-par screenplay.

An exciting comedy martial arts movie with solid action sequence from Director Chia Liang Liu.Can't judge this is a good sequel yet because I haven't seen the original.Very nice fights at the end,Favorite!!

I saw this movie once on late night t.v. and knew it was the best movie ever. This is one of the few Kung-Fu movies with a decent plot. The progression of the main character is seamless. The whole movie is great!

A bizarre, unconventional, almost anachronistic parody of the original 36th Chamber, Return to the 36th Chamber is just as much fun as its predecessor albeit for very different reasons. Equal parts spoof and as it is a straightforward martial arts actioner, the film recasts Gordon Liu as a down-on-his-luck con artist learning the ropes from the very character he played in the original, one that pushes Liu's comedic chops to the forefront and one he pulls off exceptionally well. The lighter tone and bigger focus on comedy oddly work in the film's favour, it's a welcome change of pace in direct contrast to the original, one that I found myself laughing at consistently. Lau Kar-leung maintains his stunning direction with just as much emphasis here on training sequences versus actual fighting which are once again a fantastic sight to behold. Admittedly, some aspects of the plot don't hold up to intensive scrutiny, but for what it is, Return to the 36th Chamber works. A fun-filled, highly engaging piece with a heightened sense of reality that will please fans and newcomers alike.

This might be controversial but although I think the original is a good movie this one simply was more entertaining in every way it had better pacing, better characters more inventive action (never seen construction Fu vs chair Fu before) and it had a lot humor Wich depending on what you want out of Kung Fu movies either enhances the experience or decreases it, all around great fun.

More comical than the first, full of ironies, and scenes worthy of slapstick, but the script, following the lines of the first, fearless young man seeking to learn Kung Fu at the Shaolim Temple, to free the people from tyranny, here an evil employer, the ever-present and incessant fights, like dancing in the air, adorable, followed by 36 cameras. Very good, a little bit of nothing, inferior to the first one.