Shaolin film (2010)

Shaolin, also known as The New Shaolin Temple, is a 2011 Hong Kong-Chinese action film directed by Benny Chan, starring Andy Lau, Nicholas Tse, Fan Bingbing and Wu Jing, with a special appearance by Jackie Chan. It is an updated version of Jet Li's film debut, The Shaolin Temple. The film's theme song, Wu (悟), was performed by Andy Lau.

Plot

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 flees to Shaolin Temple to hide but Hou appears and shoots him. Hou ridicules the Shaolin monks before leaving.

Feeling disadvantageous with his sworn brother, Song Hu, Hou sets a trap for Song in a restaurant, under the guise of agreeing to his daughter's engagement to Song's son. Meanwhile, Hou's deputy, Cao Man, feels that he was being used by Hou, and decides to betray Hou. Cao sends assassins to murder Hou and his family. After Hou manages to kill Song with his handgun, Song saves Hou to allow him to escape from the assassin's ambush while sacrificing himself. Hou manages to escape together with his daughter, but his daughter is severely injured when they fall off a cliff. Hou's wife is rescued by some passing-by Shaolin monks, who were stealing rice from the military granary to help refugees living near the temple. In desperation, Hou brings his daughter to Shaolin, begging the monks to save her life, but it is too late and she dies. Hou's wife blames him for the death of their daughter and leaves him. Hou attacks the monks in anger but is quickly subdued.

Hou becomes disillusioned and wanders near Shaolin, until he meets the cook monk Wudao, who provides him with food and shelter. Hou feels guilty for his past misdeeds and decides to become a monk and atone for his sins. During his stay in Shaolin, Hou gradually understands Shaolin's principles through study and practising martial arts, mends his ways and finds peace and enlightenment from his heart. One day, Hou overhears that Cao Man, who has taken control over his army, is oppressing the people by forcing them to unearth Chinese relics. Cao sells the relics to foreigners in exchange for advanced weaponry, after which he will have the labourers massacred to silence them. Hou shows up to save some labourers and exposes himself in the process.

When Cao hears that Hou is still alive, he leads his soldiers to Shaolin to capture Hou. Hou volunteers to distract Cao while the monks secretly break into Cao's house to save the imprisoned labourers. The plan succeeds but Hou's senior, Jingneng, is brutally killed by Cao while buying time for his juniors to escape. Upon returning to Shaolin, the monks decide that they need to evacuate the temple to avoid trouble. Wudao leads the refugees away while Hou and the other monks remain behind to defend Shaolin. By then, Cao 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 cannon fire, resulting in heavy casualties for both Shaolin and Cao's forces. Hou defeats Cao in a fight and eventually sacrifices himself to save Cao from being crushed by a falling pillar (returning the karma of Song'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 cannon fire. 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 the refugees, with Hou meeting with his wife in the temple for the last time. Hou passes 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 admits that Cao's present evilness is due to his own doings, thus he is the only one who can help Cao. The scene ends with the monks practicing martial arts under snowfall, hinting that the monks and refugees have found enlightenment and settled down once again.

 

Production

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

Source: wikipedia