p-stepien In the mid-30s China has broken up into warring factions of warlords attempting to carve out power and influence between themselves. Amongst them Hou Chieh (Andy Lau), powerful and remorseless, aiming to achieve domination even at the expense of his blood brothers death. He disregards not only loyalties for his quest for power, but also tradition - openly ridiculing the Shaolin Temple in the opening sequence of the movie. His only deeper affection is directed towards his wife (Bingbing Fan) and sole child. However, such immorality rarely remains unpunished, as karma is a dog and is intent on biting back, when his second in command Tsao Man (Nicholas Tse) betrays Hou, thus causing the death of his daughter. Initially conquered by anger Hou plans revenge, but soon finds sanctuary in the Shaolin Temple, finding a friend and comfort in the local cook Wudao (Jackie Chan). Slowly he accepts his fate and finds peace within himself. Tsao Man however does not intend to leave his former comrade of arms alive...Another blockbuster extravaganza from China with great settings, beautiful cinematography and some well researched, brilliantly crafted period reconstruction. However under Benny Chan's direction, visibly placing style and swashbuckling melodrama over substance, even the great Andy Lau delivers a sobbing and disappointing performance. Only Jackie Chan seems somewhat comfortable in his goofish guise, as the somewhat aloof super-cook. This stylistic over-reliance on soapish dramaturgy lacks the same required restraint showed by directors such as Ang Lee, Xiaogang Feng or even John Woo, thus making the effort at times a cringe-worthy lesson in bad filmmaking. The best moments come during fight sequences, but even here a severe overuse of slow-motion in order to 'imbue' the tragedy or drama just tingles all the wrong receptors. Instead of dramatic the multitude of such scenes make the movie a yawn-inducing watch, which could obviously use drastic editing to cut down run time with no harm to story or substance.

Tamala Baldwin I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of this film. The acting was on point and seeing the main characters grow and evolve was simply amazing. The story is so rich and is absolutely refreshing to watch. The main character's journey is just.... powerful, honest and epic. You know the story....Build yourself up to be torn down, only to be built anew again - the story of life in my opinion and this was just executed beautifully. Of course the cinematography was great. There was so much THOUGHT in some of the shots that told a story in itself. Just incredible! I experienced every emotion and was thoroughly entertained the entire time.

nemoklee The movie is great when it comes to life values. the story line is to redundant. It is used to many times in other Chinese movies. The actors did well. The special effects is good but not great. on a budget of 29 million that was not bad. This morons who did not understand why Andy Lau became a monk did not get the story. They did not understand that the Shaolin is the purest place on the planet. That is why he went there for protection as well as atonement. After he understood the Shaolin way he needed to protect it. Jacki Chan makes a cameo in the movie. He plays a ex monk who can't be pacifistic. He in the end is the one who must continue with the traditions and teach the future monks somewhere else. Budda Bless All of You

Bernard Sinai Set in the Warlord Era (1916 – 1928), Lau plays the warlord Hou Jie who finally seizes control of Dengfeng in Henan Province but is afraid that his sworn brother, Song Hu (Shi Xiaohong), could take advantage of him and take everything. He then plans an ambush for Song. However, his deputy Cao Man (Tse) has other ideas and orchestrates a plan to eliminate both warlords, ultimately taking control of their armies.Losing his daughter in the attack, Huo Jie manages to escape and seeks refuge in a Shaolin Buddhist Monastery where he becomes the disciple of cook Wudao (Jackie Chan) and later progresses to become a warrior monk with assistance from his seniors Jingneng (Wu Jing) and Jingkong (Xing Yu). He also learns to control his anger and finally find peace. However, his former ally cum enemy Cao Man learns that he is still alive and sets out to kill him.