Shaolin Soccer is a zippy, goofy tribute to kung fu movies, with a Shaolin student who dreams of expanding the reach of kung fu to help people in their daily lives. He joins forces with a crippled former soccer player and together, they coach a (of course) ragtag team to play for the championship against the dominating team of the former player’s old nemesis (who’s so obviously evil that he dresses his team in black and laughs that evil-genius laugh). It’s the sort of movie where you know which players are taking evil American steroids because a noxious black cloud oozes around them. It’s silly and inventive like that – especially clever is the mousy bun-maker with dazzling moves. Great fun.
Make sure you watch the original, subtitled version – Miramax dubbed it and, worse, chopped it for American release, apparently cutting out the more subtle humor and cultural color in favor of slapstick and soccer action. I think any notion that Miramax gives a shit about movies anymore ought to be well and truly dead by now (see the end of my Finding Neverland review for another nail in the coffin).
The Zatoichi series of
samurai films thrived
in
It’s a handsome, enjoyable, and visually intriguing movie, but it doesn’t have much emotional pull, not like, say, The Twilight Samurai.
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