The 36th Chamber of Shaolin

Posted by Zac in Entertainment and Pop Culture Movies.

This is a review of the film in Mandarin with English subtitles.

Suffering an injury while escaping a hostile invasion of his village, Gordon Liu (Heroes of the East) seeks refuge in the Shaolin Temple. Eventually he becomes a student there and masters the thirty five chambers before returning to his village to seek revenge. I hate spoilers, so I won’t get into why the film is titled The 36th Chamber of Shaolin when there are only thirty five chambers, but they do explain it. It sound simple but there is so much more to this excellent film from the Shaw Brothers, who knew how to do Kung Fu movies better than anyone.

There’s a long stretch, roughly half the film, while Liu is training at the Shaolin Temple, where no true fight scenes take place. That may bore some newcomers who are expecting a roller coaster style movie (to those people, I’d suggest Shaolin Intruders). When the fight scenes in the final act do start, it’s interesting to see Liu’s character apply what he’s learned during his training. Another thing to keep in mind is the passage of time is not always made clear. Liu’s character spends six years at the Temple, but there are never title cards stating “three months later” or things like that. Sometimes it gets mentioned in the dialogue, sometimes it doesn’t. There are some lighthearted moments in the film, but it never strays into full blown comedy.

I find Kung Fu films to be good morality tales, and this one especially teaches the value of dedication. There’s a reason it’s considered one of the best Kung Fu films around. Also known as The Master Killer.  Highly recommended.

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