Tuesday, February 7, 2012

"Shaolin" - the movie

Saw a great move over the weekend--"Shaolin". It had all of the elements that I love in an epic Chinese film: beautiful cinematography, incredible fight scenes and stunts, intrigue, high drama and even a bit of humor...and Jackie Chan.

Jackie Chan produced the film and played a part in it also, but it was only a supporting part which was just fine. He is turning into a pretty terrific character actor but can still pull off the action scenes even at age 57 (which I greatly admire, being nearly 59 myself and working hard to keep my skills as long as I can, struggling against the erosion of age and the ever-encroaching tide of time).

The movie hit notes that resonated with whole range of emotions, touching on themes of betrayal, redemption, honor, discipline, courage, dedication.

And the martial arts...inspiring! Made me want to go down to my workout room in the basement and run through my forms right then and there, and I haven't even practiced them for years! But I stayed up too late to watch the movie and all I could manage was to get up, make a drink, and plop back down on the couch. The burn is in my system though and I'll use it to fire up my next several workouts.

If you like a good Chinese martial arts epic, don't miss this one. I rate it five out of five super duper high kicks.

You can watch the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYV9thH5RhE

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