Shaolin Prince (1982) User Reviews

Crazy action plus the Shaolin Monk Three Stooges

[ChungMo · 7/10 · 23 January 2006]

An oddity from fighting choreographer turned director Tang Chia. The man behind the fighting scenes of many a Shaw Bros. production turned to directing at the end of his career, this being his first and apparently the only one released in the U.S. If this film is any indication Tang Chia's taste ran to the fantastic.

The film starts like a standard period piece but soon with the introduction of the Fire General, who shoots flames and explodes things, and the Water General, who swims under water and has a Mickey Mouse voice, the film settles into it's groove. The infant Crown Prince, hidden from the evil 9th Lord, is adopted by three crazy monks who are imprisoned in a detention pavilion at the Shaolin Temple for twenty years.

Gimmick weapons, lots of wire work, a fighting wall of hoop wielding monks and more are here. Not a great film but done with a lot of humor and enthusiasm. The final fight scene is about as strange as these films get. Good fun.

Martial Arts Fantasy sets in the Song Dynasty

[scottlam · 7/10 · 29 August 2010]

Watch this movie for the action sequences. The storyline and characters are simplistic but adequate for purpose in this type of shows. The background story is a palace intrigue in which the legitimate emperor was deposed by an evil prince. This sort of things doesn't need elaboration. It is enough that we know who the bad guy is and wait to watch his ass kicked. The costume and setting is probably based on the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD)... the kingdom of Western Hsia was referred to. What I normally do with this kind of movies is to simply scan through the plot in my first viewing and then re-visit the fight sequences. There were many great fights... like a Cirque du Soleil performance, some of the choreographed fights were fantastic - very imaginative. Fun.

A perfect gem

[DuctTapeAvenger · 8/10 · 18 December 2011]

This little film has stuck with me for decades. It's basically everything Shaw Brothers, rolled into one hilarious, action-packed, visually stunning masterpiece.

For those unfamiliar with the Shaw Brothers, this movie contains over the top kung fu (or gung fu/ gong fu if you want to get technical), great slapstick comedy, and a hint of the paranormal. Tang Chia's directing style is so unique, and actually has great control over his actors.

It took me years to find the name of this movie back in the infancy of the internet, as I had a bootleg copy... I have a copy bought from Amazon now so there's that fix.

Definite must watch, even if you're not big into fists and kicks, because at least you'll laugh your socks off.

OUTRAGES, TWO THUMBS UP!!!!!!!

[pb76134767 · 28 May 2000]

This is one of Ti Lung's best movies in the 80's...I didn't know that he could play comedy-action, as he is always a serious actor. Lots of kungfu action with swords, stick, etc. Yes, the title is misleading by all means, but it's highly recommended for martial arts lovers out there...because it's AWESOME!!!

Nothing to do with ninjas!

[bao · 7/10 · 27 November 1999]

It has been a while since I saw it. It's good, but nothing spectacular. I think it is a Shaw Bros. film, so the action was decent. Hoaky costumes and some crazy Shaolin monks in it. Not bad.

Trial by 18 Monks

[robotman-2 · 10/10 · 27 February 2001]

A cool film, no doubt, designed by the Shaw Bros. Superhumans abound, from the Ninth Prince and his iron glove whose two entended fingers can snap swords like bamboo, to an aquatic assassin who fights with two herringbone-cleavers, to the intertwined mass of the 18 Shaolin monks whose combined bodies create an unstoppable single fighter that protects the secrets of their Temple. You even have a Chinese exorcism, complete with possessed young girl slashing off heads with long needle-like claws, and this only a brief sub-plot.

The final confrontation alone, between the film's two young fighting heroes and the evil Ninth Prince, astride an ornate royal transom that turns into a sword-shooting, body-crushing battering ram, makes the movie well worth seeing. A groove.

A fantastic film - in both senses of the word

[Leofwine_draca · 8/10 · 9 December 2016]

SHAOLIN PRINCE is a very fine Shaw Brothers martial arts film from 1982, featuring Ti Lung and Derek Yee in the leading roles and involved a plot with bizarre and fantastic touches. It does, however, generally remain grounded in reality without going completely over the top like some of the other Shaw fantasies from the era. The film has an electrifying opening in which the master bad guy (stock '80s Shaw actor Jason Pai Piao) attacks the loyalist king, kills him, and goes after his babies. There are two real ones and a ton of pretend ones and most of them get massacred in surprisingly bloody moments that you'd never see in a film made in the west. Thankfully the two real princes survive the massacre and the film cuts to a couple of decades later in which they team up to tackle the guy who had their dynasty all but wiped out.

After the fantastic opening segment - which has to be one of the strongest openings I've seen in a Shaw film - the story just carries on entertaining. The main thrust of the narrative is quite straightforward, but there's always an outlandish sub-plot or two to keep you occupied; watch out for the random 'exorcism' scene which is hilariously portrayed. I found that Lung and Yee made a good double act as the heroes as their two styles complement each other nicely and they're great in the action stakes. The supporting cast is very well picked, including the likes of Ai Fei and Ku Feng as officials, and Yuen Wah in an excellent role which finally has him starting to get the recognition he well deserved. Best of all is the cross-eyed joker Tau Wan Yue, who along with his two brothers steals all of his scenes as the trio of 'Holy Fools'.

As you might expect, there's plenty of comedy in this film which works really nicely and the surrealistic touches were much appreciated by this viewer. The pogo stick scene is hilarious. Lung is something of a straight man in this but I loved him all the same. Things build to an unusual and impressive fight climax that involves a kind of 'chair fu' that you'll never have seen done before; it's visually impressive and thoroughly intricate. Watch out for the guy with the flaming sword and the 'water man', two more great characters in a fantastic film (in both senses of the word).

Fun With Methamphetamines

[DavyDissonance · 8/10 · 9 April 2019]

So the story goes, a bunch of children get chopped up and brutally killed because a couple of them are actual princes. Lo and behold two princes actually survive the whole ordeal and they grow up and learn weird @$$ kung fu and seek revenge against some guy with some golden finger weapon or some crap and blah blah blah and so forth. This is one of three movies directed by Shaw Brothers veteran Tang Chia and yes I wouldn't be surprised if the producers fed this guy crack before making these movies. I like this one because of the insane kung fu action and the insane amount of special-effects this movie has to offer which I think is a lot better than those dumb@$$ Marvel movies. "Nyuh! CGI, special effects." So gay. The story was pretty good too and easy to follow but still follows the same formulaic pattern like all other kung fu movies do which is about learning kung fu and seeking revenge. But who cares. Highly recommended kung fu movie with a lot of crackhead crap in it. Enjoy.

Very good, title misleads...

[pnchdrnk · 24 July 1999]

This film is a perfect example of mistitling, which is too bad, considering that it's quite good. My local video store has about 100 to 150 tapes in it's "Martial Arts" section, and only about 4 or 5 are worth renting, including this one.

Anyone looking 'only' for a ninja movie should steer clear as there are no ninjas in this film, nor any deathmasks. It actually looks like a Chinese epic, concerning two young princes who must fight an older prince to regain the throne that he cheated them out of when they were mere babes. Some might say this film has too much humor to be effective, but I wouldn't. For me, a "martial arts" film without humor is like a hot dog without mustard. For example, "Enter the Dragon" seemed very good 20 years ago, but now I can barely watch it.

The alternate title "Shaolin Prince" seems perfect. I've watched this film about 6 times in about two months, and have not tired of it yet.