Wonderful Movie

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The acting in this movie is really good.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

The action choreography is pretty good. Not get out of here fantastic or exceptional or whatever, but it is more than solid. And I wanted to start with this, because when the movie starts (and you haven't read what it is about), you could be excused by thinking this is a documentary. It might have worked better as one actually.But it isn't, it is a fictional story with actors who have issues with their lines and acting in general at times. Our main hero is good at what he does action wise, but when it comes to delivering lines, you might feel weird watching this happen ... If you skip to the action scenes, you'll be good and they are the only reason I rated this that "high" ...

I won't mince words. This movie is bad. Bad writing, bad acting, sappy music and editing that gave me a migraine headache. But, I think the acting wouldn't have been that bad, if they had lines to deliver. A half decent script writer would have been worth his/her pay. The lead, while wooden is likable. He is clearly skilled in kung fu. But again, so many times he looks like he's asking for a line to deliver. The editing could have been done better by a 14 yr old with a macbook. It is seriously bad. Then there's the flashbacks, yikes. This is film making 101. Use flashbacks sparingly, or never. In one of the last flashbacks, we see Li kicked out of the monastery. Maybe I should have had subtitles, because there seemed to be no explanation for his removal. This and all the other flashbacks added literally nothing to the story. They were just 20 minutes of filler. So, there it is. Its not the worst movie I've ever seen. If you like kung fu and like to see the good guy kick the crap out of the bad guys, and you can tune out all non-fight scenes, then by all means, add this to your collection.

This is a low budget Kung Fu flick...but it's really not that bad - I've seen much worse! This movie had the typical "good guy out to avenge his family and help others along the way" kind of story...not as good as others, better than some. Some of the acting was OK...others were pretty bad and some hilarious! The story wasn't going to win any awards, but was good enough to keep me interested. The punch/kick sound effects were reminiscent of the arcade game "Mortal Kombat" and bugged me a little...but the choreography and fight scenes were done very well and sated my ninja bone. Which brings me to one thing that really bugged me...the man who wrote, directed, choreographed, and starred in this movie (Peng Li) doesn't even get top billing or proper credit! I had to search for him and his name on this page! Really? Give the guy a break!

Very confusing back-flashes.Aside from those, the presentation of the main character as a true shaolin monk is well done. He is consummate, a true monk in the senses presented to the viewer.The film is presented in a way that caters to the chick-flick crowd, where the actresses and characters focus on emotions and connections emanating from the main character. Unfortunately for those interested in a martial arts film, this focus takes precedence over the martial arts aspect.For the chick-flick fans, it should be mentioned that the presentation does not serve them particularly either. The main character does show up as a true monk, not partaking in the passing pleasures of the present, but focusing on the necessities at hand.There are a few scenes of martial artistry, but these do not make up for the lackluster performance of the film as a whole.As others have said, pick another one to waste your time with. This master plays his part, but the war is lost.