Shaolin

Fascinating epic with beautiful martial arts scenes. Gives at least some historical insight into the Shaolin Temple, which has been destroyed and rebuilt more than once, "Martial Zen" and the culture of the monks inside, alongside the murderous removal of Chinese artifacts for European museums under sleazy and scandalous circumstances.The lead actor and actress and main supporting actor are splendid and their characters are unique and fairly well developed.The story is by turns dramatic, epic, tragic, heartwarming, moving, and entertaining. Jackie Chan has a touching supportive role.The Temple Abbot is the epitome of life time commitment to martial arts and meditation, an elder who is compassionate and wise who also holds his own in a fight is and far from frail, and there's a wonderful scene at about 1:07 involving a repenting former warlord who is learning deep reflection, practicing with a school-aged monk who is already very proficient on a cold night while the Abbot and the Cook watch on, unnoticed. For me this scene is touching in how much the man misses his own daughter, but gets along with such sweetness with the boy, who holds his own with the adult, and watching them moving in sync is rather beautiful.It's a violent action blockbuster, combined with historical fiction, combined with family and village drama, combined with the humble grandeur and legend of Shaolin.Is it perfectly accurate in its depiction of things in all details? Likely not, but how it approaches and blends so many elements is fascinating and rewarding, with themes of sin and redemption and our shared humanity that are woven throughout but in ways that are not heavy handed.

*NOTE: This review is for the "Shaolin (Collector's Edition) [Blu-Ray]". Amazon merged reviews with another edition that is Blu-Ray + DVD combo.This is a beautifully made film with a compelling story and profound meaning. There is everything in this film: realistic kung-fu actions, human greed/power, undeniable love for family, and seeing an absolutely cold-hearted person becoming all heart. Andy Lau was the star so was Jackie Chan (as special guest) and other supporting actors. One can argue this is a drama-first (my believe), and action second.The package comes with a blu-ray and a DVD. blu-ray comes with two Chinese audio tracks (5.1 and stereo), and two English audio tracks (5.1 and stereo). The main menu says the Chinese is Cantonese dialect, but both tracks are Mandarin. There is subtitle for English and Spanish as well. The English 5.1 seems to have better fidelity and decoding to all 5.1 speakers than the Chinese 5.1 version overall. The English dialog is translated well. The English subtitle is slightly different, but also translated very well. This is pretty rare. Kudos to the translators.The Full HD (1080p) is clean, detailed, sharp but properly softened as needed in the right places.As far as special features on the blu-ray, the deleted scenes are LONG and have pretty interesting "side stories". Many are actually quite significant to properly develop characters and bring out the strength of the overall story, but I can understand the movie would've been close to 3 hours long! There are also two international trailers.The second disc is a DVD, and it contains additional bonus materials. There are interviews of the cast and director, and behind the scene clips and documentaries. The interviews are in Mandarin and Cantonese dialects (no English).

Good Asian movie liked all the training in it and was very fun to watch

when a friend of mine first introduced this movie to me. i was like " oh great another asian fighting movie"i was blown away, it just hit me like bam. wasnt something i was expecting to be honest.Unbelievable. The movie had all the funny, drama, tragedy, and action you will need.its beautiful master piece. The acting is great, music is great, and so is the action. The movie is quite a tear jerker reallythis movie actually requires a certain level of intellect to actually understand and comprehend the lessons the movie is trying to show the viewers and the deep meaning of shaolin(ex: a 12 year old's concept of the movie will be different from a 17 or 18 year old )but doesnt mean you cant enjoy the movie if your 12 or under!i have seen this movie plenty of times since the day i bought it, and it still gets me every time.We can argue all day and night whether if this movie re-watchable, but one that we all agree is on is that you HAVEto see it at least once, and while your watching it just order your own blu ray copy now. it is definitively worth it!id probably even pay 30$ for this movie.

vielen dank für die lieferungder film ist grosse klasse

Love the story behind this film. Set during the warlord period in China when certain parts of the country were ruled over by military warlords it shows the state of one warlord losing his family and his dominion to his subordinate and then taking refuge within the shaolin temple. He comes to find peace only to go to war with his old subordinate who took over as warlord over his domain. Like Jackie Chan, and he has a small role within the film and was used largely for his name's star power. Still he role is really good and the film is very enjoyable. Nice martial arts sequences, but nothing too spectacular or over the top. Great film in my opinion.

Il pacco è arrivato rotto, riparato con nastro da poste italiane, comunque il contenuto era integro. Il film è un po' pesante, più indicato per amanti del genere e delle arti marziali.

Everything is perfect no comment

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