Shaolin Vs Lama [DVD]

A young martial artist named Sun Yi Ting, travels the land failing to find a kung fu master worthy of taking him on as a pupil.Then one day, when out about town, he comes across another young man in need of help against some gamblers. After saving the man, it soon transpires that he is none other than a Shaolin monk, who has snook out of the temple, and together they go back to his monastery in the hope that Sun Yi Ting will be taken in by his brethren.Of course Ting is refused, but this does not stop him trying to learn kung fu by means of subterfuge for a few days, until he is spotted and shooed away.Walking away miffed, he comes across a damsel in distress and saves her, only to learn that the bad dudes out to kill her, were in fact Lama killers, sworn enemy of the Shaolin, and when they hear of his courageous actions they chase him back to the temple, beat up some students and threaten to burn it down!A threat which sets into motion a series of fatal duels and leaves the monks no option other than to train Ting up, so that when they let him loose, he might have a chance of giving those bastard Lama the finger...This is a very decent effort, both cheap and cheerful. It's light hearted but without any comedy routines or drawn~out silly set pieces, with the words "Buddha be praised" surely making up at least 22% of the dialogue, the rest coming in the form of amusing insults or threats.The fights are constant, resulting in lots of people getting chop~socked, spitting out sprays of water and blood; and although speeded up occasionally, the choreography is generally exciting and tough.The story is nothing at all remarkable for the genre, but some of the Shaolin training methods are at least good for a laugh, with the 'Buddha's secret finger' technique, paving the way for all manner of immature audience snickerings, that is, until they see how devastating it is!With Chen Shan, playing a suitably villainous bad guy, as the traitorous Golden Wheel Lama, and Alexander Lo Rei giving us our none too bright hero.The only food for thought here being: How come that during China's 'Kung Fu' period in history, there were always handy, yet deserted farm houses nearby, in which the heroes could hide out in, in order to recover from a beating?Ultimately showcasing a ton of fight action, with distinctive and colourful characters/costumes, and a fun attitude, making this an 'old schooler' you will definitely want to see... Buddha be praised!The disc has a dubbed track only, and claims to be remastered; which although gives us a print which is better than many cheap kung fu releases, is still too dark during one or two brief night time skirmishes. Not to mention being noticeably full screen!4.5/5

Shaolin vs Lama is an absolute gem of a kung fu movie and if you don't already own a copy, I would recommend you buy one immediately. The basic plot is a skilled kung fu practitioner goes around challenging masters looking to improve himself and learn from somebody better. During the course of this pursuit Lo Rei (this guy is amazing!) is helped by a young monk he helps, who guides him to a Shaolin Temple to help him learn from one of the senior monks. Eventually he's taken as a student to learn how to defeat the villain of the movie. There's plenty of comical moments but most notably this film is filled with incredible, acrobatic and intense kung fu that is just a joy to watch. If only they still made movies like this! Shaolin vs Lama is literally action packed and isn't long before the next training sequence or fight.Unfortunately there is only an English language dub but this movie is just so good that you look past the flaws purely on the strength of entertainment on offer. The picture quality could be much better and it's a shame it's in full screen (4:3) but like the audio it doesn't detract from the sheer viewing pleasure of some fantastic kung fu thrills. Based on this DVD alone you should add this to your collection immediately. However should we be fortunate enough to see a properly remastered anamorphic widescreen release and given the "Hong Kong Legends" DVD treatment, I'll be first in line to upgrade this masterpiece of kung fu cinema. Fantastic!

This is one of the best films in my M.A. collection. The fight scenes are excellent and it has a good story to it even if it is the usual master trains student, master gets killed, student avenges master. Also it has the Buddha Finger so how could you go wrong? Also watch Iron Monkey, Drunken Master (with Jackie Chan) and The World Of The Drunken Masters.

Every thing you want in an old school classic!