Two Champions of Shaolin (Chang Cheh; 1980)

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Killer Meteor
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Joined: 16 Mar 2005, 23:05

Two Champions of Shaolin (Chang Cheh; 1980)

Post by Killer Meteor »

Two Champions of Shaolin (1980)

Director: Chang Cheh
Starring: Lo Meng, Chiang Sheng, Lu Feng, Sun Chien, Chin Siu-ho, Wang Li, Yu Tai-ping Candy Wen

Chang Cheh's updating of his Shaolin cycle, featuring the Venoms in place of the likes of Fu Sheng and Chi Kuan Chun, is mostly a sign of lethargy intruding on the great director, with an very dull beginning of characters sitting in chairs and providing a Greek chorus.

Once the action commences, things improve, though the reasonable period authenticity of the earlier Shaolin films has gone out of the window - everyone looks dressed for a Village People video. The Shaolin heroes are amazingly brutal and callous: I found myself 100% behind the Wu Tang clan here!

Phillip Kwok is noticeably absent from the cast, though he did contribute to the fights (this is due to a dispute between him and Lu Feng over who would be the fight director). The main focus is on Lo Meng as "Shaolin Hercules" Tung Chen Chin (a minor character in Men From The Monastery and Showdown At The Cotton Mill) and Chiang Sheng as Hu Wei Chin (played by Chi Kuan Chun in those two films as well as Shaolin Avengers). For guys supposedly tormented by revenge (Tung's wife is killed before the wedding night nuptuals!), they seem rather jolly and care free, even when tearing guy's penises off! Poor old Sun Chien gets precious little to do, and is given an especially awful pudding-bowl hair-cut that looks like someone forgot to eat the pudding first. The famous characters Fong Sai Yuk and San Te make brief appearences of little consequence: the actor playing San Te is particularly awful.

On the Wu Tang side, things are rather more interesting. A very young Chin Siu Ho makes his official debut as a kid with confused loyalties: frankly, he comes off as incredibly selfish and smug, but maybe that's the point. Still, it's nice to see that at least one of Chang Cheh's latterday discoveries went on to become a regular star. Wang Li and Yu Tai Ping get better roles than usual, and Candy Wen makes a very good impression as a real rarity: a genuinely interesting female character in a Chang Cheh film. There's also some ugly Monkey fighters - in fact, most of the supporting cast in this seem to have been selected for being especially weird looking, possibly because Chang Cheh was getting fed up of the Venoms being called ugly!

But the main highlight of this film is Lu Feng as the main villian (it's meant to be a surprise, but come on, when it came to "surprise villians", Lu Feng was Shaw's answer to Hwang Jang-lee!) Lu had won an award the previous year for his role in Shaolin Rescuers, but it's here he really gets to shine: mixing charm with evil with great charisma.

Fights are a bit clunky: there is an awesome finishing move at the finale that makes up for the stodge though. Chang Cheh's usual sexual weirdness comes to the fore when a guy is hit in the back, and what is supposed to be either brain or spinal fluid instead looks like a very large ejaculation!

And yes, this is the movie that appears in the Chemical Brother's video for "Get Yourself High."

6/10
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Markgway
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Re: Two Champions of Shaolin (Chang Cheh; 1980)

Post by Markgway »

Ivan Drago wrote:Chang Cheh's usual sexual weirdness comes to the fore when a guy is hit in the back, and what is supposed to be either brain or spinal fluid instead looks like a very large ejaculation!
:lol:
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