Shaolin vs. Lama

This film has good fast fighting as well as i good storyline which is rare for Kungfu films. The dubbing is really good. Ive watched this film over and over again and i've never got bored of this film. I have had this film for around 4 years and even to this day I regularly watch this film with my friends. All of the fight scenes in this film are really excellent, and i reccomend this film to anyone who is interested the Martial Arts.

While Hong Kong created most of the kung fu films people think about when the genre is discussed, Taiwan had a lively industry churning out cheaper but frequently entertaining kung fu movies. While Hong Kong could boast higher production values, the Taiwanese often countered with more action and this film is a great example.

Wandering kung fu student, searching for a teacher who he can't beat up, hooks up with an eccentric Shaolin Temple monk who is an alcoholic and meat eater. The student gets embroiled in the Temple's fight with an ex-disciple, a covert Lama monk, who stole the secret Shaolin fighting manual 12 years earlier. The Lama monk returns and attacks the temple for sheltering a beautiful girl he's trying to kill or marry. There a comedic monk involved also.

OK, nothing unusual plot wise here. There's little in the way of character development at all. We never learn much about the hero besides his search for a teacher. The Shaolin monk is a stock eccentric you've seen in HK films like Shaolin Drunkard. The comedic monk is a stock rascal and the villain is exactly what you would expect from this kind of film. what's great about this film and lifts it above the hundreds of others? First of all the fights are frequent, long and very well done considering the low budget. The actors are almost all excellent martial artists and acrobats. The beautiful girl is the weakest in the cast. The choreography is very complex and ambitious. There are times that it seems the actors are missing movements but it keeps moving along at such a fast pace, the mistakes are soon forgotten. Second, there's quite a bit of Buddhist philosophy in the script and that really lifts the whole film up. It seems that the film was actually shot in a real Buddhist temple and there are actual monks as extras. This temple also shows up in the raucous film "Ninja, the Final Duel".

The scene with the Shaolin monk fighting while eating a chicken is great although the "bad foot" technique he uses is quite disgusting. Most of the monks in this film have insane eyebrows. I've never seen anyone with eyebrow hair like that. And what's with the Shaolin/ Lama feud? Where did that come from and why are there enough films about it that it could be considered a sub-genre?

Unfortunately the only version available is a horrible TV print with Australian dubbing. This makes some of the action tough to watch. Do these films still exist in Taiwan?

It's fun and if a better print ever shows up I'll give it an 8.

Alexander Rei Lo stars in this movie and this is the 1st movie I seen of his with no ninjas. Even though this film has no ninjas, it's definitely no problem. Shaolin Vs Lama is non stop kung fu excitement from start to finish. This should be a no brainer and mandatory watching for fans of the genre. The dubbing is hilariously bad, the fights are insane and in high quantity. Shaolin Vs Lama will get no complaints from me and a big thumbs up.

I recently rewatched Shaolin vs. Llama (1983) on Tubi. The story follows a wandering martial artist seeking to expand his skills. After training in the ways of Shaolin, he becomes indebted to the school and is given a chance to officially join-if he can retrieve a stolen scroll. To prove himself, he sets out on a mission to track down the rogue monk responsible for the theft.

Directed by Tso Nam Lee (The Tattoo Connection), the film stars Shan Charng (Flag of Honor), Alexander Lo (Kung-Fu Commandos), Chi-Sheng Wang (Master of the Flying Guillotine), and Chi-Ping Chang (The Master).

This is top-tier martial arts cinema, delivering everything a genre fan could want. The dialogue is sharp, balancing humor with witty exchanges. It features classic kung fu training sequences, iconic background music, and phenomenal fight choreography. The school invasion scene is a highlight, and the film boasts an elite villain. The final battles build to a perfect crescendo, making for an immensely satisfying conclusion.

In short, Shaolin vs. Llama is a must-watch martial arts classic. I'd score it 9/10.

SHAOLIN VS LAMA is a fabulous kung-fu film, complete with an excellent plot involving a stolen Shaolin manuscript detailing all the 72 techniques. The thief, a Tibetan Lama masquerading as a Shaolin student, becomes a master fighter and criminal, gaining power through murder and manipuilation of the fighting clans. A young street fighter, seeking higher knowledge of

kung-fu by challenging any teaching master he meets, in order to find a master he cannot defeat, is drawn to the Shaolin temple and put at odds with the murderous Tibetan monks.

In rapid, but logical succession, a series of fights occur, escalating to operatic heights. The villain is a vicious, unstoppable monster; the young hero is loyal and determined. There are no extraneous kung-fu fight scenes, everything plot-wise is tight and staccato, with each confrontation revealing volumes of character. As in the best of the genre, the fighters, who have conditioned their bodies to absorb and deliver incredible amounts of punishment, eventually turn out to be human in two distinct ways: upon finding redemption, and just before death. An excellent film.