Soccer continues to become more popular. How do I know? Take a look at the movies that have been released in just the past few years that have a soccer theme. The Cup, Mean Machine, of course Bend it like Beckham. In fact, due to the popularity of that movie I expect to see even more soccer related films continue to be made and released.
Or in the case of Shaolin Soccer re-released. Originally made in China (2001), an English-dubbed version and DVD are available here in North America, it become a huge hit and won several awards during the Hong Kong film festival in 2002. Miramax decided to re-release the film with English subtitles in limited cities this year.
There are no scared cows in this one. Everything from soccer to song and dance numbers is fair game in this entertaining romp.
The idea is hardly original, turn a bunch of down on their luck losers into a lean mean (insert your favorite sport here) fighting team. Only this bunch of down on their luck losers also happens to be a group of highly trained Shaolin Monks. Think the Bad News Bears with bits of the Matrix, Westerns and various Bruce Lee movies thrown together. There is even an old joke involving a banana peel for good measure.
Stephen Chow, who also directed, plays Iron Leg Sing. A nearly penniless ex-monk who collects cans to make a living. He is also looking for a way to revive the dying tradition of Shaolin Kung-Fu.
One day while collecting cans he bumps into a drunken former soccer star named Fung (Ng Man Tat), also known as Golden Leg. Fung's best days are behind him after he agreed to miss a penalty kick in the 1983 National Championship game. The crowd is so irate at his missed opportunity they rush the field and break his legs.
Fung only agreed to miss the kick because he was offered fame and fortune by his teammate, the duplicitous Hung (Patrick Tse). Who later went on to become a successful businessman and owner of Team Evil, the current National Champions. He also paid the thug that crushed the "Golden Leg."
This chance meeting leads to the formation of "kung fu soccer." Sing then goes out to recruit a few of his Shaolin brothers including Iron Chest, who can trap any ball, and Iron Head. Of course each of these players have their own problems. One, whose talent is the ability to walk on air, weighs nearly 300 pounds. Another is never without a burning cigarette in his month, even during the game. The others are balding, bitter, and broke or somehow generally down on their luck.
Watching Fung whip his boys into shape is half the fun. Chow turns a simple practice into a treatise on war. Another scene has them running like five year olds all over the field kicking like crazy. Meanwhile the coach realizes they don't have a ball.
Sing also meets the shy martial arts maven and cook Mui (Vicki Zhao Wei) at Sweetie's Steamy Buns. Sing literally breaks out into song about her beauty, without realizing that her face looks like a pizza with warts.
The next thing you know, the whole restaurant is dancing in the street to 'Celebration'.
Shaolin FC enters the China Super Cup competition and quickly makes mincemeat out of their opposing teams, Chow must be a soccer fan because he can't resist throwing in a line about fair play as Shaolin racks up the score against another team.
He also pokes a little bit of fun at his own movie. When faced with a team of women, all wearing thin moustaches to play in the men's tournament, they exhibit Kung Fu skills that rival that of the Shaolin team. When asked how this can be by one of his teammates, Chow replies "Special effects."
The effects are a lot of fun. Balls that break the sound barrier, shots that rip off clothes and literally transform into flaming animals. Gravity defying leaps and saves that are made using "bullet time" technology.
The final showdown between Team Evil and Shaolin FC in the Championship game nods its head to the Westerns of old, as the goalies and forwards stare down each other like gunfighters. There is even a bit of a surprise ending.
Shaolin Soccer is big old goofy fun. Often with a foreign film the movie patron misses the subtly of the humor or does not understand the context. With Shaolin Soccer the jokes work well since Chow takes his time to set them up. Its good-hearted family fare that is well worth the time to go and see sometime this summer.
