Shaolin Soccer (2001)

Shaolin Soccer (Chinese: 少林足球) is a 2001 Hong Kong sports comedy film directed by Stephen Chow, who also stars in the lead role. A former Shaolin monk reunites his five brothers, years after their master’s death, to apply their superhuman martial arts skills to play football and bring Shaolin kung fu to the masses.

Plot.

Sing is a master of Shaolin kung fu, whose goal in life is to promote the spiritual and practical benefits of the martial art to modern society. He experiments with various methods, but none bear positive results. He then meets “Golden Leg” Fung; a legendary Hong Kong soccer star in his day, who is now walking with a limp, following the betrayal of a former teammate, Hung, now a rich businessman. Sing explains his desires to Fung, who in turn offers his services to coach Sing in soccer. Sing is compelled by the idea of promoting kung fu through soccer, and agrees to enlist his former Shaolin brothers to form a team under Fung’s management. Sing and Fung attempt to put together an unbeatable soccer team. After some failed attempts, Sing’s brothers all agree to participate in the team. Fung invites a vicious team to play against them for a scrimmage, and the thugs proceed to give the Shaolin Team a literal beating. When all seems lost, the Shaolin disciples reawaken and utilize their special powers, dismantling the other team’s rough play easily. The thugs then give up and ask to join Sing’s team.

Sing meets Mui, a baker with severe acne who uses Tai chi to bake mantou. He takes her to look at very expensive dresses at a high-end department store after hours. She soon forms an attachment to Sing and even gets a makeover in an attempt to impress him. However, this backfires and when Mui reveals her feelings to him: he tells her he only wants to be her friend. This revelation, coupled with the constant bullying from her overbearing boss, leads Mui to disappear. Team Shaolin enters the open cup competition in Hong Kong, where they chalk up consecutive and often ridiculously one-sided victories due to their special Shaolin techniques. They end up meeting Team Evil in the final, owned by none other than Hung. Team Evil had been injected with an American drug, granting them superhuman strength and speed, making them practically invincible, and they bring Team Shaolin back to reality when Team Evil’s amazing capabilities prove more than a match for them. After Team Evil takes out Team Shaolin’s two goalkeepers, Mui, who has shaved her hair and improved her face, reappears to be a goalkeeper for Team Shaolin.

The New Legend of Shaolin (1994) Biography, Plot, Trailer

Casting.

Apart from several veteran actors, Chow stated in an interview with Premiere magazine that he cast several people in his entourage who had no prior acting experience before Shaolin Soccer. For example, Lam Chi Chung (Light Weight) had worked as Chow’s screenwriter and Danny Chan Kwok-kwan (Empty Hand) was the dance choreographer hired to design the “Michael Jackson dance number” that followed Sing and Mui’s first meeting early in the film. Chow comments he made Chan wear Bruce Lee’s yellow-and-black tracksuit because only the goalkeeper “can wear a special uniform.” Tin Kai-man (Iron Shirt) had been Chow’s production manager on several movies, but had acted in numerous minor roles in previous films. For instance, he played a young wanna-be Triad member in Chow’s preceding movie, King of Comedy. Cecilia Cheung and Karen Mok, who briefly appear as Team Dragon Players 7 & 11 in Shaolin Soccer, had major roles in King of Comedy. Chow defends his decision to hire non-actors, saying, “In terms of finding talent, I try to bring out the funniest thing I notice about them during casting, if it made us laugh at the casting, it will also do on the big screen.”

Home media.

In Hong Kong, the film was released on DVD[10] and Video CD on 14 September 2001. The DVD release was shortened by 10 minutes, with the option for viewers to access the deleted scenes in the middle of the film. The scenes deleted from the DVD version are the dance sequence in front of Mui’s bakery, much of the conversation over Mui’s makeover and the blooper reel before the end credits. Viewers can also access the making of key special effects scenes as well. The film was also released in UMD format for the Sony PSP on 23 December 2005. The 2004 US DVD release by Miramax Films deleted 23 minutes of footage from the original cut; the omitted footage includes “Golden Leg” Fung’s flashback opening sequence and Sing’s interactions with Mui. This version features an English dub with Chow dubbing his own voice and Bai Ling as the voice of Mui. In addition, the DVD gives viewers the option to play the original Hong Kong version. In the UK, the film was released on Blu-ray by Optimum Releasing on 26 January 2010. The Japanese version of the film was released by Pioneer LDC on 22 November 2002. It was reissued by The Clockworks Group on 21 December 2003.

Box office, Critical response.

At the Hong Kong box office, Shaolin Soccer grossed HK$60,739,847, this is approximately $7,660,000, making it the highest-grossing film in the region’s history at the time. It held the record until 2004 when it was topped by Stephen Chow’s next feature Kung Fu Hustle. Shaolin Soccer earned a worldwide gross of US$42,776,760. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 90% approval rating based on 93 reviews; the average rating is 7.10/10. The site’s critical consensus reads: “The plot is utterly ridiculous, and the soccer in the movie is unlike any ever played anywhere on Earth, but watching Shaolin Soccer, you will probably find it impossible to care.” On Metacritic, the film has a score of 68 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating “generally favorable reviews.”

Cast:

Stephen Chow as Sing / Mighty Steel Leg
Ng Man-tat as Fung / Golden Leg:
Wong Yat-fei as Iron Head
Mok Mei-lam as Hooking Leg
Tin Kai-man as Iron Shirt
Danny Chan Kwok-kwan as Empty Hand
Lam Chi-chung as Light Weight Vest
Zhao Wei as Mui:
Patrick Tse as Hung:
Shik Zi-yun as Team Evil’s striker
Cao Hua as Team Evil’s goalkeeper
Cecilia Cheung and Karen Mok as Team Dragon players
Fung Min-hun as of Team Rebellion.
Vincent Kok as the captain of T