Yes it's an old movie but being a nostalgia critic myself, I would say if you're not going to watch this film, you are wasting a lot of value. As a fan of the martial arts theater together with loads of preposterous action, I found this film really enjoyable with how a team of shaolin practitioners reunite to form a soccer team that eventually skyrockets into glory. And here Stephen Chow plays the main character who is known as "Steel Leg" who is a former Shaolin monk who for some reason, stepped out of the Buddhist seminary and later reunites with his five brothers to form the most powerful shaolin team ever... maybe only in fiction.
So the character "Steel Leg" himself goes in search of ways to spread the ways of Kung Fu to which most people are uninterested because he's a hobo and he meets another hobo who used to be a soccer coach. Sad, sad... but don't worry it'd be a good turn. I do find the scenes where Steel Leg tries to regather the others namely Iron Head, Hooking Leg, Iron Shirt, Empty Head and Light Waist Vest. So there's much of history with the hobo who used to be known as Golden Leg as you'll see. And the training scenes are pretty hilarious from the time they had to learn to balance their moves to when they finally earn their first victory. And in the middle, Steel Leg falls in love with a poor girl who knows Tai Chi Chuan named Mui, who is acted by Vicki Zhao. I find Mui's using of martial arts to make steam buns just freaking awesome!
What we discover is that there's Team EVIIIILLLL. That's right- Team Evil. Now I wonder why would the sports committee even enlist them when they're obviously evil? Hung has created a team of super warriors, using illegal and unethical methods to do whatever it takes to win. And of course, he was the one responsible for ruining Golden Leg so he could dominate. How evil can he get? And of course, this one becomes a really HUGE challenge when after several championships, Team Evil nearly crushes the Shaolin team. In the middle of that, there's the lovey dovey scenes of Iron Leg with Mui, to which was hilarious and sad. Sad, because Iron Leg didn't return the feelings at first and hilarious, because Mui's tears made the mantou SALTY? Now what in the world is that?
Back to the game. Now here we see the Team Evil or EVIIIILLL beat up our heroes. With Mui entering, I was surprised she shaved her head to make herself look like a male or something. Maybe not, but she does save the day with a hilarious Yin/Yang trick and Tai Chi Chuan WHICH actually causes the biggest blow to Team Evil. And with that close call victory, Team Evil is later exposed for its illegal activities, Hung is fired and sent to jail for five years or more and Team Evil is banned. Now the Shaolin Soccer team becomes famous- and pretty much with a happy ending- Iron Leg marries Mui behind the scenes and Kung Fu becomes a good reason not to mess with the Chinese people!
My rating? 8.5/10 stars.
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