Shaolin Soccer
Craig
I suspect most of the column’s regular readers have already seen Shaolin Soccer. We mustn’t let that slow us down. If we all pull together, I’m sure we can still make this a worthwhile review.
Release
Universe Laser & Video. This is a region 3 disc with audio in Cantonese or Mandarin, and an English subtitle track. In addition to the theatrical cut, several extended scenes are available, but require a button-press on the remote when an icon appears on screen. It’s an awkward way to package two cuts of a film on one disc, but that’s DVD for you. The English subtitles have a non-native flavor to them, which many viewers have cited as one of the most endearing aspects of Shaolin Soccer.
Starring
The all-powerful Stephen Chow, Zhou Wei, Ng Mang Tat, Patrick Tse Yin, Cecilia Cheung, Karen Mok, Vincent Kok, Li Hui
In Brief
Fung, known as Golden Leg, takes a payoff from Hung to blow a big game. The crowd riots, and Golden Leg’s knee is smashed by an angry fan. For the next twenty years, Golden Leg works as a lackey for Hung, hoping for a chance to coach Hung’s champion Evil Team. Instead, he is fired.
As Golden Leg wanders the streets, he meets Sing, a post-graduate student of Shaolin Mighty Steel Leg technique who is looking for ways to promote Kung Fu. Golden Leg is unimpressed.
Sing’s attempt to package Shaolin Kung Fu for mass consumption … falls short of his ambition.
At their second meeting, Golden Leg sees the potential to use Shaolin Kung Fu to play soccer. Sing embraces the notion, and recruits his Shaolin brothers to play on the team. At first, things are a bit rough as Fung’s new team learns to cope with an unexpectedly competetive physical sport.
The Shaolin team finally pulls together, and enters the tournament, but will their skills be enough to contend with the Evil Team’s underwater… some kind of lab, or … some drugs or something… They’re up to no good, that’s for sure.
Has Hung been “fixing” the plumbing again?
Nice Shots
The visuals are absolutely staggering. CG is blended with live action to create a fantastic flavor in a present day world of exaggerated wealth and poverty. The film glides between satire, parody, and visual metaphors. While the stills lack the serene beauty of Hero or The Banquet, they deliver storytelling impact by referencing the vast body of work familiar to the target audience. A few samples:
This shot sets up a martial arts/western/sports film showdown.
I didn’t come here to fight; I came to play soccer.
Watch the ways in which Steel Leg’s life is reflected by his shoes.
Chow’s mind must be a wonderful place to live. In an extended scene, Steel Leg’s singing inspires a group of bystanders to hang onto their youthful dreams.
Multi-Monk Arrays
A Lou Han array gives Shaolin Soccer three bonus stars.
Best Song Lyrics
Using Tai Chi kung fu
to make steamed bread
is a startling idea.
The steamed bread
looks sweet and tasty.
I’m so impressed
by her strong arms.
Disappointments
Some pretty blinding product placements.
Final Analysis
Four and a half stars, plus three stars for the array, giving Shaolin Soccer an unprecedented seven and a half stars out of five.
If You Like This
Much like a Jackie Chan film, fans of Stephen Chow will find that his toughest competition is his own catalog. Kung Fu Hustle was good stuff, but tended to score lower than Shaolin Soccer in my highly unscientific surveys. Check out Fight Back to School, and Justice, My Foot.
The Duel, starring Andy Lau and Ekin Chen, directed by Andrew Lau (totally different Lau from the star), features some fantastic comedy in a similar vein to a Stephen Chow film.
A damn funny show in its own right, Shaolin Soccer also feeds on the audience’s understanding of the genre tropes:
The fighter who swears a vow of pacifism, and then kicks the crap out of everyone; see also The Big Boss, or Protector.
The combination of specialist styles to defeat a powerful enemy; see also Five Deadly Venoms.
The maverick sports team that goes for the big prize; see also Major League, or Mean Machine.
The Kung Fu evangelist; try Return to 36th Chamber of Shaolin.
January 8th, 2008 at 2:02 am
The English subtitles have a non-native flavor to them, which many viewers have cited as one of the most endearing aspects of Shaolin Soccer.
Is this the release that refers to Golden Leg mainly as “The Lame”. If so, a million thumbs up.
January 8th, 2008 at 8:12 am
Holy crap but I love this movie. Hilarious, exciting, the whole package. I think my favorite bit is when groups of people are struck by some powerful force or other, and they go flyin’ in all directions, tumbling wildly through the air. The ending montage always slays me as well. Brilliant!
January 8th, 2008 at 10:48 am
carpboy: That’s the one. And the ball is always “the soccer.”
Matt: Those shots of people flying around strike me as a metaphor for Chow’s life. Many of his gags center around the protagonist’s ability to draw the people around him into his reality, like the dancing sequence, and indeed, the whole plot about getting more people involved in martial arts. I imagine Chow as being something like that: moving through life like a force of nature, drawing some people along in his wake, and blowing away everyone else. Kind of reminds me of some people I know.