Shaolin Soccer (2001)

Shaolin Soccer (2001)

5/10

Starring

Stephen Chow

Zhao Wei

Ng Man-tat

Patrick Tse

Danny Chan Kwok-kwan

Directed by Stephen Chow

I recall when I was in the University this was a movie to see back then in 2002, but now watching it again I can barely keep my eyes open. I still did enjoy the over the top CGI and the unbelievable football (or soccer) being played, but in the end seeing this movie now in 2020, I cannot remember what I liked about it then.

Nothing has changed, I recall the plot being very out there making no sense at all and the over the top effects, but what I did not recall is the bad pacing in the movie. I guess when you are young sometimes these things do not matter. The pacing of the movie is so badly done it is hard to keep your excitement. Then the exaggerated CGI is best enjoyed once. Watching it again and seeing it being flung around with reckless abandon, just bore the hell out of me.

The movie starts with an introduction to a disgraced soccer hero Fung, who allowed his greed and fame get into this head that he made an enemy of the wrong kind. Now he is working for someone who once idolized him. Series of events led to him losing his job and he met Sing a Shaolin Kung Fu master, who was asking him to come enroll for Kung Fu training.

Sing is an out of work man living on the streets so his marketing for Kung Fu training did not go down well with Fung.

Later on Fung sees Sing beat up some men using a soccer ball and Kung Fu. This gets Fung’s attention and knowing of a football competition with a huge price money, Fung decided to get Sing and form a football team so as to win the money. Sing agrees, but to form the team he decided to enroll his other Kung Fu brothers, each with their own unique specialty.

Together they form a football team which after much training were good enough to enter into the competition.

So, maybe I over hyped my childhood memory of this film. Or maybe because back then we watched movies like this in a group, whatever it was that made me remember this movie as a hit is gone now. This movie was the bomb in the past and I should have left it alone there.

Watching it again just helped me get a nice rest and took me longer to watch the entire movie because I had to skip back to where I recall stopping.

If I am going to base this paragraph on how this movie made me feel back then, I will say Stephen Chow deserves all the accolades he got for this movie’s production. Hey! he wrote, starred and directed the movie.

The movie is a critical and commercial success, but if I am to review this movie based on what I know today, the rating of 5/10 which is this high because of the nostalgic effect this movie had on me.