Regardless of being a comparatively unknown entry in Jet Li’s filmography, Martial Arts of Shaolin marked the unlucky finish to an unbelievable period within the historical past of the martial arts style. Launched in 1986, Martial Arts of Shaolin was the third and closing installment within the loosely linked Shaolin Temple trilogy.
Jet Li famously loved his breakout position within the 1982 Hong Kong kung fu basic, Shaolin Temple. Following the movie’s success, Jet Li was tapped to star in a semi-sequel, titled Youngsters from Shaolin. After that, Jet Li partnered with Shaw Brothers, the highest kung fu film studio in Hong Kong, to make Martial Arts of Shaolin, which noticed him work with director Lau Kar-leung.
Martial Arts Of Shaolin Represented The Finish Of An Period In The Martial Arts Style
Though the martial arts comedy is not sometimes acknowledged as one among Jet Li’s finest films, Martial Arts of Shaolin stands out as a particular movie for the actor, given that it is the solely true old-school kung fu film that he ever made. Historically, an old-school kung fu movie is recognized as a movie set in historic China, with coaching and revenge typically being integral to the plot.
This particular subgenre, which Shaw Brothers had labored years to grasp, was constructed round lengthy, intricately crafted struggle scenes that leaned closely on Chinese language martial arts, whether or not it was hand-to-combat, weapon combating, or mixtures of each. Due to the heavy quantity of lengthy takes these sequences provided, they may take weeks or months to movie.
Martial arts stars like Jackie Chan, Ti Lung, Alexander Fu Sheng, and Carter Wong contributed an ideal deal to this aspect of the martial arts style, however there wasn’t one other for Jet Li, due largely to the timing.
Martial arts cinema was altering within the mid-Nineteen Eighties, with fantasy and modern-day motion beginning to take precedent. Plus, the method to filming struggle scenes that had helped outline old-school kung fu films was not thought of sensible anymore. A lot much less time was being spent on filming, which led to much less and fewer wild and beatifully choreographed motion sequences.
The style had already discovered itself on this trajectory lengthy earlier than Martial Arts of Shaolin, however this movie, in a way, felt just like the final hurrah for the old-school kung fu movie, as Shaw Brothers – who had completed greater than any studio by way of popularizing it – shut down their movie division, with Martial Arts of Shaolin sadly being their solely 1986 manufacturing.
- Launch Date
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March 1, 1986
- Runtime
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90 minutes
- Director
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Lau Kar-leung