The film is set in Dengfeng, Henan, during the warlord era of early Republican China. The warlord Hou Jie defeats a rival named Huo Long and seizes control of Dengfeng. Huo Long flees to Shaolin Temple to hide but Hou Jie appears and shoots him. Hou Jie ridicules the Shaolin monks before leaving.
Feeling disadvantageous with his sworn brother, Song Hu, Hou Jie sets a trap for Song in a restaurant, under the guise of agreeing to his daughter's engagement to Song's son. Meanwhile, Hou Jie's deputy, Cao Man, feeling that he was being used by Hou and that he deserves better, decides to betray Hou. Cao Man sends assassins to murder Hou Jie and his family. Hou Jie manages to fatally wound Song Hu with his handgun, but Song still saves Hou to allow him to escape from the assassin's ambush before succumbing to his injuries. Hou Jie manages to escape together with his daughter, but his daughter was severely injured when a carriage knocked her down while she is fleeing, and worsen when they fall off a cliff. Hou Jie's wife is rescued by some passing-by Shaolin monks, who were stealing rice from the military granary to help the refugees living near the temple.
Publication Information
- Title : The New Shaolin Temple
- Chinese : 新少林寺
- Directed by : Benny Chan
- Produced by : Benny Chan
- Written by : Alan Yuen
- Starring : Andy Lau, Nicholas Tse, Wu Jing, Jackie Chan
- Cinematography : Anthony Pun
- Editing by : Yau Chi-wai
- Studio : Emperor Motion Pictures, China Film Group Corporation, Huayi Brothers Media Corporation, Beijing Silver Moon Productions Ltd, China Songshan Shaolin Temple Culture Communication Center
- Distributed by : Emperor Motion Pictures
- Release date(s) : 19 January 2011 (China), 27 January 2011 (Hong Kong)
- Running time : 131 minutes
- Country : Hong Kong
- Language : Cantonese, Mandarin
- Budget : US$30.5 million
- Gross revenue : $33,470,508 (China)
- Download link : Download Movies
One day, Hou Jie overhears that Cao Man, who has taken control over his army, is oppressing the people by forcing them to unearth Chinese relics. Cao Man sells the relics to foreigners (who appear to be Americans due to the eagle on their caps) in exchange for advanced weaponry, after which he will have the labourers massacred to silence them. Hou Jie shows up to save some labourers and exposes himself in the process.
When Cao Man hears that Hou Jie is still alive, he leads his soldiers to the Shaolin temple to capture Hou. Hou Jie volunteers to distract Cao Man while the monks secretly break into Cao's house to save the imprisoned labourers. The plan succeeds but Hou Jie's senior, Jingneng, is brutally killed by Cao Man while buying time for his juniors to escape. Upon returning to Shaolin Temple, the monks decide that they need to evacuate the temple to avoid further trouble.
Wudao leads the refugees away while Hou Jie and the other monks remain behind to defend the temple. By then, Cao Man arrives with his troops and orders an attack on Shaolin. At the same time, the foreigners feel that they have been cheated and they bombard Shaolin with artillery, resulting in heavy casualties for both the Shaolin monks and Cao Man's forces.
Hou Jie defeats Cao Man in a fight and eventually sacrifices himself to save Cao from being crushed by a falling beam (returning the karma of Song Hu's sacrifice to save Hou during Song's assassination) and falls into the Buddha statue's palm and dies peacefully, leaving Cao feeling guilty. On the other hand, the surviving monks succeed in overcoming the enemy and stopping the bombardment. Meanwhile, the retreating refugees turn back and start crying when they see Shaolin Temple in ruins. Wudao tells them that the Shaolin spirit will continue to live in them even though the temple has been destroyed.
Afterwards, the scene cuts to an earlier period before the monks evacuate with the refugees, with Hou Jie meeting with his wife in the temple for the last time. Hou Jie passes the urn containing his daughter's cremated ashes to his wife, and she forgives Hou for his past, and accepts the fact that she can no longer be with him. Hou Jie admits that Cao Man's present evil doings stems from his own past misdeeds, thus he is responsible in guiding Cao back to the correct path. The scene ends with the monks practicing martial arts under snowfall, hinting that the monks and refugees settled down once again.
Cast
- Andy Lau as Hou Jie, a warlord who becomes a Shaolin monk
- Nicholas Tse as Cao Man, Hou Jie's second-in-command who became his foe
- Wu Jing as Jingneng, Hou Jie's oldest senior who is killed by Cao Man
- Jackie Chan as Wudao, the Shaolin cook monk
- Xing Yu as Jingkong, Hou Jie's second senior, who dies together with Suoxiangtu in a fight
- Fan Bingbing as Yan Xi, Hou Jie's wife
- Xiaoliuna as Shengnan, Hou Jie's daughter
- Shi Xiaohong as Song Hu, Hou Jie's sworn brother, who was shot by Hou
- Hung Yan-yan as Suoxiangtu, a martial arts expert working for Cao Man
- Chen Zhihui as Huo Long, a rival warlord who was killed by Hou Jie at the start of the film
- Yu Hai as the Shaolin abbot, who is killed while buying time for the remaining Shaolin monks and refugees to evacuate. Before his death he blocks the door with the bodies of his enemies.
- Yu Shaoqun as Jinghai, Hou Jie's third senior, who is shot to death by Cao Man's soldiers after he saved a young girl.
- Liang Jingke as Song Hu's wife
- Bai Bing as Tian'er, the singer in the restaurant
- Wu
- Music by : Nicolas Errèra
- Additional music : Anthony Chue
- Composed by : Zhao Qin
- lyrics by : Zhao Qin, Andy Lau
- Performing by : Andy Lau
Filming started in October 2009 with a jubilant ceremony held inside Shaolin Monastery. News first spread of the project when the film's co-star Jackie Chan announced on his official website that he was involved with the project but was not able to talk about it due to contract restrictions.
Chan and his crew built their own "Shaolin Temple" in Zhejiang province that cost 10 million yuan (US$1.47 million) to avoid damaging the actual temple. The cast members shaved their heads bald for filming, whereas Chan, who wore a hat, shaved around his head where his hair was sticking out. Andy Lau's left hand was injured while he was filming a fight scene.
Release
Shaolin was originally slated for a late 2010 release. The film was released in China on January 19, 2011 and in Hong Kong on January 27, 2011. Shaolin premiered as number one in the Hong Kong box office, grossing $592,046 during its first week. The film also premiered at number one in the Thailand and Singapore box offices during opening week. The film also went on to break the box office record in Malaysia.
Reception
As of September 14, 2011 and 24 reviews, the film holds a 74% fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes.
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