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How does Jet Li ’s celebratedShaolin Templemovie serial social rank from bad to best ? Already a bonafide action whizz in Hong Kong before breaking intoEnglish voice communication Hollywood movies , Jet Libegan his soldierly art breeding age eight as a student of modern Wushu . The Beijing - bear Li would go on to represent China in Wushu rivalry around the world , even performing a demonstration for American President Richard Nixon on the White House lawn .
Li ’s huge skills in Wushu appeal the film diligence ’s attention , with 1982’sThe Shaolin Templemarking Li ’s feature film debut . Not only wasThe Shaolin Templea vast bang in China , but it also had a very tangible real - earthly concern impact . The movie ’s winner spawned a resurgence in interest in China ’s legendary Shaolin Monastery , known as the epicenter ofBruce Lee ’s kung fu . The Shaolin Temple itself would become the basis for countless martial arts moving picture and grow into one of China ’s biggest landmark - all thanks toThe Shaolin Temple ’s influence .
Off the back ofThe Shaolin Temple ’s achiever , Li returned for two continuation , Shaolin Temple 2 : nipper From Shaolinin 1984 andMartial Arts of Shaolinin 1986 . While he ’s gone on to become a martial graphics movie caption with late hits likeFist of Legendand theOnce Upon A Time In Chinaseries , Li ’s work on theShaolin Templemovies kickstarted his career and remain important entry in his filmography . Here ’s the ranking of Jet Li’sShaolin Templemovies from worst to good .
3. Shaolin Temple 2: Kids From Shaolin (1984)
The 2nd photographic film in theShaolin Templetrilogy is certainly the most lackluster , in part for its much more tangential human relationship to the actual Shaolin Monastery . warlike arts skipper Jet Liplays Sanlong , the adoptive son of former Shaolin monk Tianlong ( Yu Hai ) . Tialong and his brother Yilong ( Hu Jianqiang ) raise Sanlong and seven other orphans , training them in kung fu and teaming up with the Wudang kung fu - practice Bao crime syndicate to face a gang of vengeful bandits . Kids from Shaolinwas a major hit in China in 1984 , but it ’s frequently look back upon as the least of the series , and rightly so . Kids of Shaolinis by far the campiest movie of the three , with plenty of clowning and even musical numbers woven into its story - but , unluckily , these constituent largely fall flat .
While very elegant and coordinated , Kids from Shaolin ’s martial liberal arts chronological succession flow into the trap of being excessively flowery and dance - like . With an scratchy tone and more ballet - Esquemartial arts jell pieces akin to Marvel ’s Shang - Chi , Jet Li ’s sophomore role as Sanlong unhappily was a dance step down fromThe Shaolin Temple , and the plastic film is more generally regarded as one of the lesser action character of Li ’s career . WhileKids From Shaolinis by no means an awful picture show , it really only exists in Jet Li ’s filmography for those wanting to see the wholeShaolin Templetrilogy .
2. The Shaolin Temple (1982)
At just 19 age old , Jet Li made his film first appearance inThe Shaolin Templeas the vengeful Jue Yuan . After a local warlord toss off his father , Jue is direct in by the Monk of the Shaolin Monastery , becoming skilled in kung fu and determined to block the warlord ’s seduction . While full of greatmartial arts fighting stylesand training scenes , The Shaolin Templeis most remembered for its famed Four Seasons montage . With Li training in various unarmed and weapons form over the course of a yr , the montage showed Jet Li correctly out of the gate as an incredible Wushu athlete and hard screen presence .
Shot over a three - year period and the first moving-picture show to use the actual Shaolin Monastery as a location , The Shaolin Templelaunched Jet Li ’s calling and made the lore of the Shaolin Temple and Shaolin martial arts the new kung fu movie furor . Li ’s own career would be place into the stratosphere withThe Shaolin Temple ’s winner - a fact that ’s very easy to forget today with the absolute phone number oftimeless , buff - preferent kung fu film classicshe ’s been involved in . Nevertheless , The Shaolin Templeholds up excellently as a historical ‘ LXXX kung fu relic and a actual cultural touchstone of the Shaolin Temple ’s long history .
1. Martial Arts of Shaolin (1986)
Shaolin Temple 3 : Martial Arts of Shaolin , also known as simplyMartial Arts of Shaolin , put up as both Jet Li ’s only Shaw Brothers moving picture as well as his only collaboration with fabled kung fu movie conductor Liu Chia - liang ( or Lau Kar - leung , as he ’s formally credited ) . On both counts , it ’s an great martial arts film . Li plays monk Ling Zhi - ming , a promising student of the Northern Shaolin Temple who enter on a retaliation mission against magistrate He Suo ( Yu Chenghui ) . Along the room , Zhi - ming teams up with a Thelonious Monk from the Southern Shaolin Temple , Chao Wei ( Hu Jianqiang ) , and the niece of the temple ’s Abbot , Si - ma Yan ( Huang Qiuyan ) , to whom Zhi - ming has a out of sight connection .
Containing easily the best activity scenes of the whole trilogy , Martial Arts of Shaolinis honest to its title in bringing a broad collecting of Northern and Southern fist and weapons forms into its practicallynon - finish soldierlike arts fight scenes . The movie also shows great creative thinking with its training sequences , including a calligraphy competition between monks with kung fu combat thrown into the mix . Martial Arts of Shaolinis also the most wholesale ingress in theShaolinTemplemovie series , fascinate China ’s scenic knockout in locations like the Forbidden City . good of all , the final battle of the movie is a rowdy spectacle , with an army of Northern and Southern Thelonious Sphere Monk joining violence against He Suo ’s personnel with both weapon and empty - handed combat . As a termination , Martial Arts of Shaolinlays exact to the note of the good of the Jet LiShaolin Templetrilogy in awe - inspiring way , with Jet Li ’s third - ever film show reminiscent ofBruce Lee ’s early winner inThe Big Boss .
NEXT : Jet Li / Jason Statham Collaborations order Worst To undecomposed
