Shaolin and Wu Tang
    AKA; Shaolin vs. Wu Tang

Director: Gordon Liu

Starring: Gordon Liu, Adam Cheng, Johnny Wang, Lee Hoi San and Elvis Tsui.

Plot: Adam Cheng a Wu Tang student is friends with Gordon Liu a Shaolin student, the evil emperor Johnny Wang wants to master both styles but when he is refused to be taught at both schools, he plays them against each other, meaning that the friendship between the two leads can no longer exist.

Review: The story is straight forward and allows the action scenes to flow into one another seamlessly, the fight scenes are very well choreographed, that also goes for the training scenes. Lau Kar Leung was credited as producing for the film, but I’m unsure of his involvement on the project, its unclear if he helped his adopted brother with the fights scenes. Gordon Liu does a fine job at directing, action directing and starring, he casts himself in the role of the Shaolin monk (no surprise then) and reprises his legendry role from his Shaw Brothers days.

Adam Cheng plays the other student who is deadly in the art of the Wu Tang 8 sword technique, he is great and perfectly cast, his acting skills are shoddy but he can fight and perform the difficult moves the choreography requires. He is best known to audiences as the main swordsman in Tsui Hark’s Zu Warriors: from the Magic Mountain.

Johnny Wang plays the evil baddie, and like most old school kung fu films, he is dressed up in “old man” make-up. The grey hair doesn’t make him unrecognisable though as he looks exactly the same as he does in his countless other screen roles.

Lee Hoi San makes an appearance as a monk, this is a rare good guy role, he has starred in an endless amount of films as a bad guy, his most memorable being in Yuen Woo Ping’s Magnificent Butcher. Even though Lee Hoi San is basically the same character from the one he plays in The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin, he sadly doesn’t get to show off his great ability here, unlike he did in that film. A bald Elvis Tsui also makes a cameo as a monk, he later went onto fame in Ringo Lam’s Prison On Fire 2 and is known for his Category III roles.

Overall this film isn’t much different from the many other low budget kung fu flicks from this era, but nevertheless it is an entertaining 80 odd minutes. It sadly doesn’t have the same kind of magic the Lau Kar Leung and Gordon Liu Shaw Brothers collaborations did. Old school kung fu fight fans will enjoy the inventive choreography nevertheless.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10.0