WasAnnon
Slow pace in the most part of the movie.
Nonureva
Really Surprised!
Ariella Broughton
It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
Yash Wade
Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.
dafrosts
The opening sequence of a Shaolin Monk who's been kicked out of the monastery batting several monks is a great scene. It is worth rewinding to watch several times. It leads into the story of Besties, Chun Kit (Gordon Liu Chia-Hui), A Shaolin Practitioner and Fung Wu (Adam Cheng Siu-Chow),a Wu Tag Practitioner, who try to remain friends despite the animosity between their "schools" The Wu Tang were created by the exiled monk and there's been a rivalry sine that day. (Think Romulans vs Vulcans).I am unsure if Johnny Wang Lung Wei's character standing actually is, as it's not made clear in the movie. Some reviews say he's a prince. What is clear, is he is determine to learn every Wushu style known in China and will obtain te knowledge by hook or crook. His present focus is on Shaolin and Wu Tang styles. His plot to obtain the knowledge includes using his own sister, Yue Lam (Ching Li). He wants the books for both styles of Kung Fu. The lousy lighting in version I watched made some scenes makes it difficult to see. Lung-Wei sets up Fung Wu to kill his own Master, after making it appear the Master was poisoned by the Shaolin. The Master was killed because he refused to hand over the Wu Tang sword book. Fung Wu refuses to do likewise so Lung-Wei has him thrown into a psychiatric unit for disturbed women, where he is befriended by Yue Lam, who was placed there by Lung-Wei. Chun Kit learns of Fung Wu's incarceration and attempts to help his friend. He brings food to the inmates so he can teach Fung Wu Shaolin techniques, using Yue Lam as the go-between. Chun Kit finds a way to spring Fung Wu from prison and they bring along Yue Lam. They venture to Chun's home, where his sister, Yan Ling (Ida Chan Yuk-Lin) awaits them. The Qin army appears seeking Yue Lam and Fung Wu for escaping the prison. It was nice to see the women fighting against the army, rather than sitting on the side lines whining as I have seen many women do in these types of movies.Yue Lam is captured by the Qin and taken to Lung-Wei who is pleased to see she has learned the Wu Tang sword style and the Shaolin hand style. He is eager to learn them from her. They venture back to their home to begin the training.Fung Wu and Yan Ling encounter Wu Tang as they are making their escape from the Qin. The WU Tang are looking for Fung Wu to make him pay for killing his master. Fung Wu agrees to go with them so long as they leave Yan Ling, a Shaolin Practitioner alone. Yan Ling sees Qin troops surrounding them and steps between Fung Wu and Qin arrows to protect him. Fung Wu is dragged way by the Wu Tang as Yan Ling lays dying. Chun Kit finds Yan and demands to know what happened. Her last words are Wu Tang, so naturally Chun Kit thinks thinks Wu Tang has killed her. He goes off to a Shaolin Monastery to learn proper skills to defeat the Wu Tang. Fung Wu, who was tossed into a prison by the Wu Tang to repent, becomes a Wu Tang priest to exact revenge on the Shaolin for allegedly poisoning his master.Lung-Wei organizes a competition between the two groups. He wants to learn which is the best and then study that style completely. Chun Kit and Fung Wu have been chosen to represent their groups. The friends at first refuse to fight. When Lung-Wei make it clear no one leaves someone wins, the friends challenge each other, while obviously holding back their full strength. Lung-Wei gets irritated and demands each use their skills properly. Both sides are stunned to hear Lung-Wei knows of their teachings. Lung-Wei demands the competition be a battle to the death. When Chun Kit and Fung Wu refuse, Lung-Wei's men appear arms to the hilt. Lung-Wei orders the men to fight or be killed. Yue Lam appears and tries to force the friends to fight by having them fight her. This only infuriates Lung-Wei, who decides to fight the friends on his own.Lung-Wei finds himself being defeated when the friends use each others styles against him. Yue Lam begs her brother to stop fighting as the combination of Shaolin and Wu Tang styles appears undefeatable. Lung-Wei only stops fighting after being severely injured by the combine styles. The movies ends with Chun Kit and Fung Wu proving the styles are nearly the same and therefore equal. I gave this an 8 as it had all the ear markings of a Shaw Brothers film, which I adore, good and bad. Gordon Liu's Wushu skills are always a pleasure to watch.
montessny
I brought this movie because it starred Gordon Lui.He is one of the best Old School fighters no second thoughts.I loved this movie from the moment it started to the end.I wish the movie never ended.Like many of Gordon's movies (Master Killers)for one which was a big hit when it came out.. Shaolin Vrs Wu Tang I think is the kept secret behind Master Killers.It does not ask Master Killers for help in kung fu movie ranking.I loved the great show down on the two schools Wu Tang and Shaolin showing their respective fierce fighting styles and traditions.Many great foot,leg,swords,training scenes from the both clans comparing their styles to each other.Without spoiling it here now the movie has a great plot that keeps you thinking and your eyes wide open.Gordon Lui & Adam Cheng are best friends only thing is that both of them come from rival clans the Shaolin and Wu Tang.The evil prince played by (Wong Lung Wie) tries to get the two friends to fight each other til death in a true battle both schools stand aside at the end to watch a battle that means more than friends!.Is friendship thicker than honor?Find out and watch!!!!
John Book
It's safe to say that almost any movie Gordon Liu has ever appeared in is a classic. You can probably watch the intro of this movie (about four minutes) over and over and over and never get bored, it's that good. The movie itself is about two people from two different groups (the Shaolin and the Wu-Tang) and how they must unite to fight for one common cause. The fighting sequences are great, the storyline is easy to follow, and... well, just go out and see it.
QKnown
Using the classic martial arts storyline of the villain who wants to learn the secret style of fighting, SHAOLIN v WU TANG is dope! In this one, we get two friends, one from Shaolin school and the other from Wu tang. After a foul up that results in the murder of the Wu tang master, the two friends soon become enemies, then on a mission to seek acceptance to become monks and challenge one another.The only disappointing thing about this flick is that it's fight scenes don't compare with the beginning of the film, And that's just a training sequence!!!! Still this is one of the masterpieces of Kung Fu film. Keep an ear out for some of the dialogue that was sampled on Wu Tang Clan's CD "36 Chambers".