This Yuen Woo Ping martial arts classic starts and ends
beautifully with Jet Li and a huge mass of monks doing their
Tai-Chi movements in synchronization in front of their temple, and with
some great atmospherical ST music to it.
Very impressive indeed. This film depicts how the Shaolin Temple monk
Chang Jun Bao .... the mythical or real Chang
San Fong (?) grows up in the temple with his friend Tian Bao, learns
kung fu, is thrown out, opposes the cruel royal
eunuch Governor Liu Jing and his buddy turned Bad Guy, and finally how
he invents the Tai-Chi style of martial arts.
The DVD menu from the old
Hong Kong Universe DVD from 1999-2000 something
- not from the crisp looking UK Blu-ray

Chin Siu Ho
as Shaolin monk Tian/Tempo turned evil officer under ditto evil eunuch
governor Liu Jing.
The slightly blurry pic from the old Hong Kong DVD and not from the
crisp looking UK Blu-ray edition
Jun Bao - Jumbo/Chang San Fong and best buddy Tian/Tempo
are thrown out of the Shaolin Temple when they are
too unruly and in an amazing fight scene with both poles and weapons
takes on the monks of the whole temple.
Out on the streets in (a nearby?) city they connects with the opposition,
the anti-government movement and team up
with i.a. Qiu Xue (Michelle Yeoh), Ms. Li/Little Melon
(Fennie Yuen) and bar owner Ling (Yuen Cheng Yan the
brother of director Yuen Woo Ping). The Evil Royal eunuch and tax collector
Liu Jing harasses the people, but still
Tian wants to be one of his soldiers to gain power and riches, and he
turns evil and a tyrant too.
Will there be an ending fight between Jet Li and Chin
Siu Ho? Do Panda bears take a crap in the bamboo woods?
Will Jet Li lose that fight? Probably not. Will the wires be seen all
too clearly at times? Probably yes.
The Old Hong Kong Universe DVD in truncated letterbox
ratio
widescreen, cantonese audio DTS-HD MA 5.1 with english
subs (or an english dub ditto 5.1) or original cantonese
mono audio. Extras: an audio commentary from the great martial arts
expert and chinese speaking Bey Logan, trailer,
interview with Chin Siu Ho (20 minutes in cantonese with subs), Birthplace
of Tai Chi: On location in Chen village
(15 minutes, mandarin with subs), Meditations on the Master: Brett Ratner
and Elvis Mitchell on director Yuen Woo
Ping (13 minutes), Twin Warriors: Brett Ratner and Elvis Mitchell discuss
Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh (14 minutes) and
the Original home video trailer