IMDB Rating: 5.3/10

Country: Taiwan, 90 minutes

Spoken Languages: Mandarin, Cantonese

Genre(s):

Director: Ting Mei Sung

Cast: Kuan-Chun Chi, Chin Hu, Tommy Lee, Chung-Hsing Chao, Jun Chen

Medium: Unknown

Plot Outline: SHAOLIN RED MASTER is one of those kung fu movies where everything isshrouded in mystery for so long into the story that by the time we learnwhat we need to know, we find it wasn't worth the effort. This is too badbecause there are some good performers and a handful of good fights,including a great knockdown, drag-out hand-to-hand bout at the end betweenstar Chi Kuan-Chun and villain Chang Yi. Directed by Sung Ting Mei, the film opens with a lengthy treatise onTibetan Buddhism and its spin-off Lamaism and its Red and Yellow branches,all of which have virtually nothing to do with the movie proper. Instead,the plot is all about a stolen box of Ancient Ginseng originally prescribedfor an ailing kung fu master by a doctor who was then killed. Ten yearslater, the doctor's son, Su (Chi Kuan-Chun), seeks revenge and winds upmixing in with a group of shady characters including Flying Tiger Chi Pao(Lung Fei) and the attractive but deceptive Miss Hung (Hu Chin). All pathseventually lead to a `Red Master' called `Old Devil' (Chang Yi) who is alsolooking for a hidden Jade Buddha. Su continuously intervenes when other characters are attacked, usually bykiller monks, but he gradually arrives later and later until, one by one,the various characters die before he can save them, none of which seems tobother him very much. There is a fat waiter and his equally hefty wife whohelp out Su, but also provide questionable comic relief, including a scenewhere the couple is about to make love but are interrupted by the boss lady,Miss Hung. It's not a bad movie, but the unnecessarily busy plot slows things down andactually keeps the hero from doing what he does best, i.e. fight! Betterknown for playing Hu Wei Chien in several of Chang Cheh's Shaolin Templefilms, Chi Kuan-Chun is in fine form here, as fit and toned as ever. Short,but with long and well-muscled arms and legs, Chi found few opponents whomade a good fit with him on screen, but he is particularly well-matched withChang Yi in the final battle. Chi made lots of films in Taiwan after leavingShaw Bros., from the sublime (EAGLE'S CLAW, also with Chang Yi) to theridiculous (IRON NECK LI). SHAOLIN RED MASTER was shot on location in Taiwanand while it's well-directed it pales next to the same director's TRAITOROUS(1976).

Location: VD9/Action

Loaned: No