Production Year: 2001 - Martial Arts - Director: Stephen Chow - Original Language: Cantonese - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Stephen Chow, Vicki Zhao, Man Tai Ng more
Hong Kong satirist Stephen Chow wrote, directed, and stars in this hilarious spoof of sports and kung fu movie cliches. Chow plays 'Mighty Steel Leg' Sing, who can kick soda cans... more
Shaolin Soccer DVD
Get ready to kick some grass! Sing (Chow) is a skilled Shaolin kung fu devotee whose ... more
amazing "leg of steel" catches the eye of a crippled former soccer star turned coach! Together they assemble a squad of Sing's former Shaolin brothers (now disgruntle...
Shaolin Soccer
An all-comedy kung-fu extravaganza featuring Hong Kong superstar Stephen Chow, Shaolin ... more
Soccer is an entertaining mix of football, martial arts and awesome special effects.'Mighty Iron Leg' sing, a garbage-man and Shaolin follower, is looking for new ways to bring the wonders of martial arts to the people. After a string of failed attempts, he comes upon a winning combination: using Kung-fu skills on the football field.Teaming up with a down-and-out ex-football star, sing gathers his former Shaolin brothers to put their powers to use on the pitch - despite the fact that none of them know a thing about the beautiful game. With a little help from a Kung-fu fighting Baker, the rag-tag team set out to win The Coveted China Cup from the nefarious team evil.
Production Year: 1973 - Martial Arts - Director: Robert Clouse - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Bruce Lee, John Saxon, Ahna Capri, Jim Kelly
Production Year: 2002 - Martial Arts - Director: Yimou Zhang - Original Language: Mandarin - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Jet Li, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Maggie Cheung, Ziyi Zhang
Production Year: 1981 - Martial Arts - Director: Kenji Misumi, Robert Houston - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Kayo Matsuo, Minoru Ohki, Akiji Kobayashi, Shin Kishida, Masahiro Tomikawa, Tomisaburo Wakayama
A review by Ailran on Shaolin Soccer (DVD) December 1st, 2004
Author's product rating:
Did you enjoy it?
Loved it
Story
Satisfactory
Characters / Performances
Satisfactory
Special Effects
Standard
How does it compare to similar films?
Good
Advantages:
Hilarious total entertainment
Disadvantages:
CGI a bit overused
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Shaolin Soccer has finally reached these shores after becoming a massive success all throughout Asia back in 2001. Quite why it has taken so long to get here I don’t know but with the recent release of Hero, and the upcoming House of Flying Daggers, maybe the time is right for something other than horror and heroic fantasy to arrive from Asia. As far as I know this is the first out and out comedy to come from the major Asian film making countries (Though Thailand’s ‘Iron Ladies’, another sporting comedy did make it to cinemas around three years ago). This is surprising considering the success of Jackie Chan and his comedic style but maybe the distributors think Asian comedy just doesn’t travel overseas.
Shaolin Soccer is a blend of comedy, martial arts and the standard underdog rooting sports film (i.e. Dodgeball and Major League among many others). It stirs together these genres and makes a magical mix, producing a superb take on how the modern generation views gentle martial arts and how to interest them in the arts rather than the martial side.
The story follows Sing, known as Shaolin Steel Mighty Leg, a young man who works as a cleaner, collecting rubbish to exchange for money. He is trying to find some way of promoting his Shaolin arts. As he explains to an old bum, one time soccer legend Golden Leg, the Shaolin arts would help people in their everyday lives if only they would study it. He points out how a woman could have kept her feet rather than falling over and how someone else could have parked their car for example.
Golden Leg is less than impressed, his own life has gone downhill due to the machinations of his ex-team-mate and now owner of the Evil Team (yes that is their name according to the subtitles!), the current champion team, the equivalent of Arsenal. He cannot see how Shaolin arts could help him in his life. Sing gives him a card but Golden Leg stuffs it in his can of drink and throws it at him. Sing intercepts the can with his foot and boots it. Much to Golden Leg’s shock the can vanishes into the sky, glinting in the sun as it disappears.
Not believing what he saw Golden Leg stumbles off, later discovering the can embedded in a wall a long way away from where it started. The card inside it verifies it is the same can. When he sees Sing beat off a bunch of thugs using a football, and his ball skills, a plan comes together in his head. He wants revenge on the owner of the Evil Team and Sing wants to promote Shaolin. By teaming up they could both get what they want. The upcoming major football tournament could benefit them both. The two join up to recruit a team, starting with Sing’s old Shaolin brothers, and then train them so they can compete against the best.
You know where the film is going from here and while it is pretty much the same as all the sporting loser films it manages to eclipse these by the involvement of martial arts skills. The actual football match highlights are very funny because of this, see it and you'll know what I mean.
Of course what would this sort of film be without some sort of romance in the mix? There is a subplot involving Mui, a hot bread maker that Sing befriends, that folds a touch of romantic comedy into the story. Though even that is more off kilter than typical Hollywood romcoms.
The dance number that Sing and the people around Mui’s stall start up is a great rip off of Michael Jackson’s Thriller and is one of a small number of musical interruptions. Not too many to be annoying and just weird enough to enjoy.
Shaolin Soccer, although being 4 years old now, is a very modern Asian film. There are a number of jokes based on Hollywood films (Jurassic Park and Matrix) and even an amusing horror/slasher spoof. Of course the film specific jokes that were funny then are rather dated now, even more so when Hollywood themselves has spoofed the main ones themselves many times now.
CGI is used for some of the football & martial skills and they are not done as well as major American films do them. On second viewing a lot of the CGI is glaringly obvious, which can detract form further viewings. First time around though I have to say I didn’t realise how bad they were, I was enjoying the movie so much that I guess I just didn’t notice.
Above all Shaolin Soccer is fun, fun, fun! It cannot fail to bring a smile to your face and should be enjoyed for exactly what it is…… sheer outright entertainment of a kind normally only found in kids movies these days. Even if you don’t like football, probably even if you hate it, you should still enjoy this. The actual matches are heavy on effects and comedy, not actual football.
I’ve seen this film a number of times now (bought a version from CD-Wow a couple of years ago having been told how good it was by a friend) and still enjoy it. Everyone I’ve badgered into borrowing my copy has been instantly converted and I will watch it again.
The version that has been released theatrically in the UK has been dubbed, so those awful (but funny) subtitles have been lost, and Stephen Chow (Sing) has revoiced his own character. If you can find somewhere that is actually showing this then it is worth seeing. If not then I’m sure it will not be long before someone releases it over here for you to rent. If you cannot wait then CD-Wow do still have it for sale.
CD-Wow sell it for £6.99 in a directors cut. Though the actual directors cut version has no English subtitles the original version on the discs does. It also included NG footage (which I guess stands for No good as it is a bunch of outtakes!)
It is a subtitled film with the cast speaking either Mandarin or Cantonese (how do you tell?)
Certificate: 12A Running Time: 87 minutes
Director: Stephen Chow Writers: Stephen Chow & Tsang Kan-Cheung
Cast:
Stephen Chow – Sing Vicki Zhao – Mui Ng Man Tat – ‘Golden Leg’ Fung Patrick Tse Yin - Hung
Advantages: Funny, great effects Disadvantages: not enough features, some people don't like Chow's style of humour
...up the other of his shaolin brothers and forms a team to enter a prestigious tournament with a prize of $1 million. There they come up against numerous weird and wacky teams, including the mysterious "Team Moustache" They beat all opponents and start to live the life of famous football players.
But they face their biggest challenge yet in the final, the nefarious "Team Evil", a steroid induced team led by Hung (Yin Tse), the man who told Golden ... ...featurette • Guide to the Shaolin moves!
This film is quintessential Chow from start to finish. If you have watched any of his other films(Kung Fu Hustle, King of Beggars etc.) then you will know what to expect and you should definitely enjoy this film. If you have not yet seen any of his films then I would suggest watching Kung Fu Hustle as this will ease you more gently into the twisted martial arts comedy world of Stephen Chow.
This is ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Hilarious and heartwarming. Disadvantages: Might not sit well with Hong Kong purists.
...They used to be unbeatable Shaolin masters, but when their teacher died and they went their separate ways, they lost the will to pursue their art and let modern society get the better of them.
Sing's life changes forever when he meets Golden Leg (Man Tat Ng), a former soccer champ who lost his winning streak along with his magic striking leg when he threw a match many years ago. Golden Leg realises this intense young man's potential when he sees ... ...Each brother is given a Shaolin name that resonates with classic Hong Kong storytelling; Iron Head, Hooking Leg, Iron Shirt, Weight Vest, Mighty Leg etc… and their powers all stem from their individual talents. This is basically an excuse to display ludicrous, cheeky martial arts manoeuvres that blend surprisingly well into the game of football. It also throws some astonishingly good special effects for such a low budget film. Players defy gravity, ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Funny, Hilarious Disadvantages: Fight scenes could have been more in numbers.
...evil" faces off against The shaolin team. The evil team is on drugs, and have attained super human powers because of that. It is because of this, the goal keeper of shaolin team gets brutally injured and is replaced by one of the other players. Iron shirt the now goal keeper also gets injured and the team falls short of one player. It is at this time that Mui shows up and takes the place of goal keeper. In the final attack, Team Evil's striker leaps ... ...feild into half. Thus the Shaolin team wins the tournament. Hung gets stripped of title and is banned for the use of drugs.
Well, according to me, the movies is worth the amount and is damn funny and hilarious. You can watch it not just once, but again and again and not even get bored. ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
...films for a while, and shaolin soccer has me hooked even more so, i've even taen up kung fu because of it, this is how motivating the film is, and with thespecial guest appearance of the twins you can't ask for a film better without it being shaolin soccer 2
the opening scene 'golden leg' has his leg broken after missing a penalty he was talked into by supposedly his best pal, it then switcheds into his pal talking about his caeer since stephen ... ...the locker room where he as an outright argument with stephen chow and sacks him, stephen chow becomes a down and out until he meets this guy who was ashaolin mnk and still practices the arts trying to find ways of getting people to learn kung fu, in there everyday lives,
stephen chow is the guy who plays golden leg in the film (sorry can't remember characters name)
i'll add some more detail later :) ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
Plot: A Shaolin Kung-Fu practitioner is looking for a way to spread the word about his art. He meets up with an ex-soccer player who trains him and his five brothers to play football. They form a team, and combining the two disciplines, are soon entered into a major competition.
Special Features: Making Of Documentary, Out Takes, Special Effects Featurette, Guide To Shaolin Moves
DVD Description
Hong Kong satirist Stephen Chow wrote, directed, and stars in this hilarious spoof of sports and kung fu movie cliches. Chow plays 'Mighty Steel Leg' Sing, who can kick soda cans through walls, and is a natural soccer star in the eyes of crippled coach Fung (Patrick Se Yin), who is looking to challenge his arch rival Hung, the captain of the aptly named Evil Team. Recruiting Sing and his goofy brothers who all have names like Steel Head, Hook Kick Leg, and Weight Vest (with qualities to match), Hung's team soon rises through the ranks via their supernatural Kung Fu soccer skills. There's also a love interest in the form of a shy girl (Vicki Zhao Wei) who uses martial arts magic in making steamed bread. MATRIX-style digital effects elevate the actor's martial arts skills to ludicrous heights, giving the clichéd story such a giddy, high-octane boost it soars into a comic class by itself. Soccer balls ripple through the air like slo-mo bullets, smashing through walls, and flying thousands of feet in the air. A box office smash in the East, SHAOLIN SOCCER should prove irresistible to open-minded Westerners looking for a laugh-out-loud experience.
Professional reviews
Review: Match of the Day meets The Matrix. (FHM, )
Brilliant... could well be the best football movie ever made. (Hotdog, )
Insanely funny. (The Sun, )
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Listed on Ciao since : 01/12/2004
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