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The
New Legend of Shaolin |
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Year: |
1994 |
Kung-fu kid Xie Miao |
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Director: |
Wong
Jing |
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Action: |
Corey
Yuen Kwai |
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Cast: |
Jet
Li Lian-Jie, Chingmy
Yau Suk-Ching, Tze Miu (Xie Miao), Deannie
Yip Tak-Han, Wang Lung-Wei, Chan
Chung-Yung,
Damian Lau Chung-Yun,
Chu Ko Liang, Adam Cheng
Siu-Chow |
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The
Skinny: |
Occasionally
entertaining, but also messy and cartoony to a fault. |
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Review
by Kozo: |
This Wong Jing/Jet
Li collaboration is messy, loud, and overall a forgettable
experience. Li is Hung Hei-Koon, Shaolin disciple and
enemy of the imperials. On one bad day, he gets his family
wiped out by imperial troops. Only his son is left, so he
pulls a Lone Wolf and Cub on him: the kid can choose
a rocking horse or a sword. If he chooses a sword, then they’ll
be fugitives from the government for years to come. If he
chooses the rocking horse, the Hung will send him to hell
to join his mom. How's that for parenting?
Needless to say, the kid chooses
the sword and grows into the form of kung-fu kid Tze Miu.
Years later, the two find themselves stalked by more imperials,
and must protect some Shaolin kids who possess the map to
an ancient Ming eunuch’s treasure. Aiding them are mom-and-daughter
thieves, played by Deannie Yip and Wong Jing starlet Chingmy
Yau. Hijinks ensue.
Yuen Kwai’s action is okay, but Jet
Li’s rock-like performance and Wong Jing’s cartoonish direction
hurt the picture. There are occasional entertaining moments,
but on the whole the film is far too frenetic and uneven.
Jet Li's presence and Wong Jing's comedic leanings seem to
be incompatible anyway. You'd think these guys would see that.
(Kozo 1995) |
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Notes: |
In
2001, The New Legend of Shaolin was retitled by Columbia/Tri-Star
Home Video as The Legend of the Red Dragon and released
in the US. The disc is letterboxed with excellent picture
quality, but is dubbed and suffers from a few cuts, one of
which slightly alters the Fong Sai-Yuk joke/Wong Jing cameo
at the end of the film. |
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Availability: |
DVD
(Hong Kong)
Region 0 NTSC
Universe Laser
Widescreen
Cantonese and Mandarin Language Tracks
Dolby Digital 5.1
Removable English and Chinese Subtitles |
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DVD
(United States)
Region 1 NTSC
Columbia/Tri-Star Home Video
Widescreen
Dubbed English Track
Dolby Digital 5.1
Bonus Trailers |
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image courtesy
of Universe Laser & Video Co., Ltd.
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| LoveHKFilm.com
Copyright ©2002-2008 Ross Chen |
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