Blu-ray Synopsis: In Chang Cheh's fourth Shaolin film, the internationally acclaimed Alexander Fu Sheng cements his fame. He delivers great acting and kung fu performance. The young fighter Zhong Jian (Alexander Fu Sheng) leaves his master for a short time. When he returns, he finds that the small village has fallen into the hands of bandits. One of the gangsters (Leung Kar Yan) injures him. When he realizes that his skills are insufficient to fight the bandits, Jian goes to school with a Shaolin Monchin, who teaches him special techniques. Back in the village, he learns that his master has been killed and swears revenge... (96 Mins)

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Views: Straight-up, I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised when I first watched The New Shaolin Boxers. I honestly think that it is quite possibly Alexander Fu Sheng's finest hour as a martial artist, not to mention an enjoyable Chang Cheh film that still falters from his usual flaws – written once again by the man himself and Ni Kuang. Backed by a simple and great cast of stars, the film tells the tale of Zhong Jian (Fu Sheng) – a boisterous and brave young man who is always eager to help those in need. After coming across an attack on a young woman by a local thug, Zhong comes to her aid but soon finds that he has opened up a whole new can of worms when the gang boss comes looking for him. Unable to defeat the boss, Zhong's teacher sends him away from the school for his own protection to find solace under an old Buddhist monk and spend some time learning the Shaolin style of Choy Li Fut. But while in his period of training, the young fighter soon learns of his old teachers murder by the hands of Feng Tian Shan – the gang boss that drove him out. Now, armed with his new martial arts skills, Zhong returns to his village to take revenge!

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Although he had already appeared in and had made quite the impression in many films over a 4 year period, Fu Sheng got the chance to carry a film on his own with The New Shaolin Boxers. While I wouldn't say the character of Zhong Jian was an overly complicated or challenging role for him to take on, Fu still does a great job in bringing the hero to life. But what really impressed me here, was the fact that he actually looks like he knows how to fight for a change! Although he had done a fine job in films like Heroes Two, Men From The Monastery, Shaolin Martial Arts, Five Shaolin Masters, and Disciples Of Shaolin, I was never really overly impressed with Fu Sheng's martial skills – except for perhaps, his abilities in the latter title. But it seemed that 1976 was to be a turn-around point for the actor with this coming in between Boxer Rebellion, Seven Man Army, Shaolin Avengers, and Shaolin Temple, with his career only getting bigger and better until his death in a vehicle accident in 1983. I always stated how I'm not the biggest fan of the young star, but I must say that The New Shaolin Boxers has given me a new appreciation of Fu Sheng who mixes comedy and dramatics with some great moves. While he has often been referred to as the original 'clown prince of kung-fu' (before Jackie Chan owned that title), I more often than not just found him to be irritating and annoying as opposed to funny. But there have been certain titles over the years – most of which have been restored and re-released like this – that are letting me see that Fu Sheng had a lot more to offer. Jenny Tseng stars alongside her husband (Fu Sheng) for the second time that year, after Boxer Rebellion also for Chang Cheh, as the poor victim of the village thug.

 

The amazing Leung Kar Yan stars as the wicked thug that tries to rough her up, eventually going-up against Fu Sheng which is what kicks-off all his troubles. Having started with Chang Cheh and the Shaw Brothers studio just two years prior in Shaolin Martial Arts, Kar Yan quickly made quite the impression in titles such as Marco Polo, Five Shaolin Masters, Boxer Rebellion, and Seven Man Army yet interestingly enough broke-off from the studio after this. 1977 would see him move into the independent side of things with films such as Five Kung Fu Daredevil Heroes, Eagles Claw, Iron Monkey, My Life's On The Line, 2 Great Cavaliers, and more before joining Sammo Hung's party with Enter The Fat Dragon, Warriors Two, Knockabout, and Odd Couple, among many other indie studio titles. I quite enjoyed him in this role, even if it was a smaller one as a sidekick to the big boss, Feng Tian Shan. He is played by the one-and-only Johnny Wang Lung Wei, one the Shaw Brothers (and Hong Kong cinemas) greatest bad guys! After following the path similar to that of Leung Kar Yan, New Shaolin Boxers would only be his 7th title over 2 years, having appeared alongside his co-star for Chang Cheh. This was one of the first to let him really strut his stuff as a hard-ass main villain and, as expected, Lung Wei does a fantastic job. I must also note that both he and Kar Leung are aided by a young Jamie Luk – director of Robotrix – who also gets in on the action here-and-there, dressed like he just stepped out of a 70s disco. The masters are played by two prolific actors, both of which are a welcome site and addition to the cast. The first is Shan Mao, a recognisable actor who starred in 120 films in less than a decade before his passing in 1977. This started with The Knight Of Old Cathay and The Combat Six in the late 60s, going on to star with Jimmy Wang Yu in titles such as Magnificent Chivalry, One-Armed Boxer 1 & 2, Seaman No.7, Beach Of The War Gods, and much more. Shan plays Fu Sheng's teacher who initially expels him from the school, but goes on to guide him to his old friend, Master Zhu, played by the wonderful Chen Hui Lou – of Unicorn fame from Jackie Chan's Fearless Hyena. Of course, Chen starred in many wonderful titles over the years and for many different studios, many of which were alongside Shan Mao and his other co-stars in the aforementioned titles as well as appearing in films such as The Killer Meteors, Iron Monkey, Raining In The Mountain and Legend Of The Mountain for King Hu, Big Boss Of Shanghai, World Of Drunken Master, Fearless Hyena 2, The Kung Fu Kids 1 & 2, and the wonderful A Book Of Heroes alongside Yukari Oshima and Yasuaki Kurata. Philip Kwok appears as one of the students at Fu Sheng's school, and a few other Venoms pop-up throughout alongside Robert Tai and others as gang-members, students, and extras.

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While I totally believe that Wu Ma was the main director behind this, with Chang Cheh either sleeping on the job or keeping himself busy with other projects, The New Shaolin Boxers also benefits from having some brilliant fight choreography courtesy of Hsieh Hsing, Chen Hsin I, and Chen Jih Liang – with this being the first and last job as an action-director for the latter. But Hsieh Hsing and Chen Hsin I are two names who are well known in kung-fu cinema. The former starred in over 60 films during the course of his 12 year career, including classics like The Begging Swordsman, The Ghost Hill, 8 Dragon Swords, and a host of Jimmy Wang Yu titles from One-Armed Boxer to Beach Of The War Gods. He directed his own film in 1979 called The Bone Crushing Kid, and choreographed over 30 films including Hurricane, Marco Polo, Seven Man Army, New Shaolin Boxers, The Naval Commandos, and Return Of The Chinese Boxer. Interestingly enough, Chen followed a very similar path indeed, starring in just as many over the same amount of time which included Dragon & Tiger, Seven Man Army, To Kill With Intrigue, Snake & Crane Arts Of Shaolin, Lady Constables, and more. He directed The True Game Of Death the same year as Hsieh directed his own movie, and choreographed almost 30 titles including One-Armed Swordswoman, Marco Polo, Seven Man Army, The Killer Meteors, Filthy Guy, and To Kill With Intrigue – once again with Hsieh. Between them, they bring some highly exciting fights to the screen and make Fu Sheng look the best he had to date – displaying some great moments of Choy Li Fut along the way. If one thing stops me from rating The New Shaolin Boxers any higher, it was the decision to intersperse cut-scenes of Fu Sheng's training throughout the end fight so that viewers know what particular moves of the style he was using in battle. While I get what they were aiming for, the end result just stalls the epic-ness of the grand finale and, in turn, made me start to care less as to what was actually going on...

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Overall: One of my favourite Fu Sheng films, The New Shaolin Boxers is full of great fights and is a highly enjoyable, but simple martial arts flick!

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Blu-ray Extras: Trailers, Photo Gallery​​