Blu-ray Synopsis: In The Shaolin Kids, a ruthless premiere assassinates a political rival, and must face the wrath of his deadly daughter!

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Views: Lui Po Wen is a powerful ex-minister who once objected to the election of the new and ambitious prime minister, Hu Wei Yen. With his health at a low point, Lui receives a visit from Hu who has brought a doctor with the promise of getting him better. But after taking some medicine, Liu gets worse – quickly realising that he has been poisoned under the orders of Hu Wei Yen. Before he dies, Liu manages to tell his daughter who killed him and orders her to seek vengeance on behalf of him and the country. Meanwhile, the prime minister has let an important scroll fall into the hands of opposing loyalists – a scroll that contains vital battle orders and self-incriminating evidence. Upon knowing this, Miss Lui and her new friends vow to take this to the Emperor as proof of treason and help bring Hu Wei Yen down. It all leads to a furious showdown of vengeful kung fu that sees

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I guess The Shaolin Kids would be the first Joseph Kuo movie to star the trio of Carter Wong, Polly Shang Kwan, and Roc Tien Peng, originally released in the UK under the title of Shaolin Death Squad. This was a bit of a daft move, considering Polly Shang Kwan and Carter Wong starred together in a film called Shaolin Death Squads only a year later for director Chan Siu Pang – one of the fight choreographers of The Shaolin Kids, with Cliff Lok continuing to work with him on that particular production after this as well as 18 Bronzemen and its sequel. Of course, Lok had been a kung-fu star in his own right after starting a career with the Shaw Brothers in films like Magnificent Trio, One-Armed Swordsman, Golden Swallow, and then some and as his career progressed, Cliff became the lead in a number of classics such as Kung Fu Genius, Duel Of The 7 Tigers, and Choi Lee Fat Kung Fu, going on to appear in modern flicks such as Angels Project with Moon Lee and the low budget, Fatal Dream. Having trained under the infamous master Yu Jim Yuen from the Peking Opera School that put Jackie, Sammo, and Yuen Biao through their paces, Lok was behind a number of films as the martial arts director. But it's fair to say that Chan Siu Pang outshines Lok with his extensive career in the industry, starring in over 100 films from 1960 to 2006 that would see Johnnie To's Election 2 and Shaolin Vs Evil Dead 2: Ultimate Power being his final projects. Chan also directed over 10 films himself including The Best Of Shaolin Kung Fu, The Magnificent, Choi Lee Fat Kung Fu, and Rivals Of The Silver Fox – many of which included working with both Carter Wong and Cliff Lok on a regular basis. Siu Pang also held a strong position as a martial arts director having choreographed over 60 films throughout his career including The Comet Strikes, Super Dragon, Joseph Kuo's The Old Master, and the super fun Seasonal Films flick, Lackey And The Lady Tiger starring Mars and Hwang Jang Lee. In The Shaolin Kids the pair deliver some exciting kung-fu battles which come thick and fast, mixing some great hand-to-hand action with plenty of skilful swordplay.

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Cliff Lok also plays a great role here as one of the assassins for the prime minister, and gets in on plenty of fight scenes – often popping a magical healing pill to heal his wounds so that he can continue fighting. Although Carter Wong pops up here-and-there for the first hour of the film, he really gets the chance to shine around the one-hour mark before getting killed off after a spear is thrust through his stomach. I've always been a huge fan of Wong's with him already having starred in a good 30 films before this for studios like Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest, as well as many independent studios. Films like Hapkido, When Taekwondo Strikes, The Skyhawk, The Dragon Tamers, Shaolin Invincibles, Marco Polo, The Blazing Temple, 18 Bronzemen and The Traitorous, helped earned him a large following with the man becoming a huge name of kung-fu cinema for a strong decade or two. When that star started to fade in the early 80s, Wong headed to the bright lights of Hollywood where he got the chance to star in the incredibly fun John Carpenter movie Big Trouble In Little China as Thunder, and worked behind the scenes on the action for Rambo 3 before leaving the set due to creative differences. The poorly received Hardcase & Fist soon followed before he returned to Hong Kong for appearances in films like The Transmigration Romance, Way Of The Lady Kickboxers, and High Voltage with Donnie Yen – but it was nothing compared to that of his heyday of the 70s and soon, Wong returned to the States. Roc Tien Peng – who gets a lot more screen time than Carter Wong – didn't do too bad himself starting his film career in King Hu's classic Dragon Inn and returning to work with him once again in A Touch Of Zen. Over the years, Tien starred in more than 60 films through to the early 80s, many of which were enjoyable Taiwanese wuxia flicks and many that put him alongside his co-stars of The Shaolin Kids, over the years. From 1974 to 1984, he directed 7 features of his own from The Notorious Bandit to The Legend Of All Men Are Brothers, as well as The Silver Spear which saw him star alongside the lovely Doris Lung.

 

And of course, we can't forget about the wonderful Polly Shang Kwan, the real leading star of the show who made her film debut alongside Roc in King Hu's Dragon Inn. Once again, Kwan proves to be a joy to watch as she gets to show-off some great moves and acting, and looks great doing it. By the time she made this, Polly had already starred in over 20 titles including classics such as The Bravest Revenge, The Ghostly Face, Back Alley Princess, Chinatown Capers, The Chinese Amazons, and A Gathering Of Heroes – proving to be a powerhouse martial arts starlet and wonderful actress. The rest of the huge cast is filled with many popular Taiwanese actors – many of whom appeared in a number of Joseph Kuo movies, with Huang Fei Long starring alongside Cliff Lok as his assassin partner. As well as a short but fun role from Jimmy Lee, it was great to see the brilliant Chang Yi appear, playing the role of General Lu and getting to pull-off some pretty slick moves in a couple of fight scenes. Yi made quite a name for himself since hitting the scene in 1967 with films such as The Thundering Sword and The Silent Swordsman for the Shaw Brothers studios. King Cat, The Silver Fox, and the awesome Bells Of Death soon followed and by the time The Shaolin Kids came about, Chang Yi had starred in over 40 films including classic titles like Zatoichi & The One-Armed Swordsman, The Fast Sword, Bandits From Shantung, Lady Whirlwind, Four Real Friends, 18 Shaolin Disciples, and more.

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While it may not be the greatest kung-fu movie of all time, The Shaolin Kids still proves to be a well made and entertaining piece. With plenty of great kung-fu action, pleasing cinematography from Kuo regular Chujio Chintaro, and solid direction from Joseph Kuo, you can't help but find a soft spot for this martial arts classic of Taiwanese cinema. Recently released as part of the Cinematic Vengeance box set of Joseph Kuo movies from Eureka Video, The Shaolin Kids has never looked better which makes for an even better watch that's well worth the pennies!

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Overall: A kung-fu classic packed full of great fights, colourful costumes, and a great cast, The Shaolin Kids is a brilliant Joseph Kuo movie worth the watch!

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Blu-ray Extras: Audio Commentary by Mike Leeder & Arne Venema

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Watch my unboxing video of this Eureka Video release HERE