Siu lam juk kau (2001)

Director:

Stephen Chow

Writers:

Stephen Chow (writer)
Kan-Cheung Tsang (writer)

Release Date:

12 July 2001 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Sport

Tagline:

Kick some grass!

Plot:

A young Shaolin follower reunites with his discouraged brothers to form a soccer team using their martial art skills to their advantage.

Plot Keywords:

Bizarre | Tears | Shoes | Bald Woman | Bruce Lee

Awards:

13 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Stephen Chow	...	Mighty Steel Leg Sing
Man Tat Ng	...	Golden Leg Fung (as Ng Man Tat)
Wei Zhao	...	Mui
Yin Tse	...	Team Evil Coach Hung (as Patrick Tse Yin)
Hui Li	...	Banana Peel Girl
Cecilia Cheung	...	Team Moustache Player 1
Karen Mok	...	Team Moustache Player 2
Vincent Kok	...	Team Puma Leader
Kai Man Tin	...	Iron Shirt Tin (Third Brother)
Lam Tze Chung	...	Light Weight (Small Brother)
Kwok-Kwan Chan	...	Lightning Hands (Fourth Brother)
Mo Mei Lin	...	Hooking Leg (Second Brother)
Ming Ming Zhang	...	Little Hung
Pu Ye Dong	...	Little Fung
Shi Zi Yun	...	Team Evil Center

Also Known As:

Shao lin zu qiu (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)
Shaolin Soccer (International: English title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for martial arts action and some thematic elements.

Runtime:

113 min | Hong Kong:102 min (DVD version) | USA:87 min | Argentina:89 min

Country:

Hong Kong | China

Language:

Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS (US version) | SDDS (US version) | Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:All (original rating) | Malaysia:U | South Korea:15 (re-rating) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Zurich) | Iceland:12 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:12 | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:PG | Norway:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12A | USA:PG-13 (re-rating) (2004) | USA:PG (original rating) | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Shanghai, China

Company:

Star Overseas

Trivia:

This film was referenced in Chow's next film, Kung fu (2004). During his first appearance in the film, Chow encounters a few boys playing a game of soccer. He stomps on a soccer ball after doing a few tricks, deflating it, and yells "No more soccer!"

Quotes:

Sing: [after his team gets brutally beaten by Team Gangster] Why don't you stop them? They're being unlawful!
Golden Leg Fung: I'm the referee! I won't stop them!
Sing: What do you mean by that? You basically want us to die!
Golden Leg Fung: [blows his whistle] You! Out of the game!
Sing: Have you gone nuts?
Golden Leg Fung: This is a test! If none of you can pass it, then you can't play in the soccer league!
Sing: Well, this is a soccer game! This isn't a war!
Golden Leg Fung: The final soccer game is a war.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kung fu (2004)

Soundtrack:

Mens' Courage

brilliant film, shame about the cuts & dub

This film was seen as something of a surprise. Having only heard of Shaolin Soccer on the net, and seen a teaser for the film, I thought nothing more of it until given the opportunity to go and watch the UK release. My initial disappointment with the dubbing (I am a subtitle die-hard) was soon overcome with admiration of how far HK cinema has come. Imagine the FX expertise of the Matrix with the comedy of Jackie Chan fused into a somewhat generic football film. In a word, a brilliantly scripted and often funny film. Many moments are extremely funny, with the over-the-top storyline made famous by HK, and also the very touching moments with the acne-ridden baker girl/love interest as she is only accepted for what she is. It feels as if there is more to the love story in the original cut of the film, as the story occasionally skipped in places, like a bad DVD. But the overall story is not affected, it moves sedately at first, which is good, as the excessive use of Kung-fu and Football are shown in increasingly ridiculous stages. The final goal reminds me of Hot-Shot Hamish, for those that read the comics. Worth seeing, and I can't wait for the DVD - providing it has the original cut, and subtitles.