Arhats in Fury

Arhats in Fury is a 1985 martial arts movie, produced in China, that can be a little confusing at times but is ultimately an enjoyable kung fu movie to watch. This review refers specifically to the DVD version of this movie with ASIN number B00006L93H (the photograph on the front cover shows a bearded monk holding a young woman in pale blue aloft, with the title in red Chinese characters on the right-hand side). Amazon has this DVD listed as a '2-Disc Version;' this is incorrect, as there is only one disc.This historical film revolves around a young monk, Zhi Xing, and his involvement in the conflict between the local people and the Jins who are invading. Zhi Xing's monastery leaders are stubbornly clinging to the temple's rules of nonviolence and therefore forbid any physical resistance to the Jin incursion, yet any infraction on the part of the monks is met with very violent discipline by the abbots, including brutal beatings, severing of limbs and death. Zhi Xing ends up fighting the Jins in order to defend people at a local village; this act starts a sequence of conflicts between Zhi Xing and both the Jins and his monastery.There is a nice, non-obtrusive romantic interest for Zhi in the film, but the platonic master-student relationship of Zhi and his master, Jiao Yuan, turns out to be the more moving relationship in the film. The depiction of Jiao's fatherly protection and compassion towards Zhi gives this film much of its humanity, and the scene in which Jiao desperately pleads for the abbot to spare Zhi's life and take his own is striking in its emotional effect. The Jin characters, on the other hand, are mostly one-dimensional and treated essentially as crude, repulsive villains.There are only four or five main fight sequences in this movie - although each is fairly lengthy, if you expect wall-to-wall action in your martial arts films, you won't find that here. This film is very heavy on story, especially in the first thirty minutes, and the long fight scenes are not gratuitous, but rather are well-integrated with the plot. The first fight between Zhi and a Jin soldier has some impressive acrobatics that look fairly natural (that is, without wires or excessive editing tricks). I always enjoy watching this fight, as well as the one between Zhi's shackled master and the Jins that takes place at the monastery. There is another large-scale fight involving many animals and birds that must have been difficult to film, but is unusual and interesting to watch. Of course, there is the big show-down at the end. On the whole, the movie seems to be fairly big-budget, with beautiful photography, locations and costumes.The first time that I watched this DVD, I was confused by the sequence of scenes early in the film. Only a second viewing cleared up some of the confusion. When you watch, the movie begins with Zhi and Jiao struggling to survive out in the wilderness. What then follows are a series of rather quick and often baffling scenes of events that have already happened that have lead up to the two monks being in the wilderness. About twenty minutes later, the film picks up once again with them in the wilderness as they are attacked by birds, and from there the action moves forward and is quite linear. On first watching, I thought that the wilderness/birds scenes were two separate instances and wasn't sure what had happened, so I hope that this helps you to make better sense of the story. There are still a few odd moments, like the flying head-to-wall suicide and the brief 'horror-movie' element while Master Jiao is being beaten, but they just add to the fun. It is a serious film, but there are several instances of intentional and unintentional humor.You can hear the movie in Mandarin, Cantonese or an English dub, and view subtitles, as well. The English subtitles do not exactly match the spoken English dub. In order to get the most from the movie, I would suggest watching it once with the English dub, which is often quite humorous (one of the temple's masters sounds a bit like John Wayne). But with the Mandarin language enabled, the voice acting is very good, full of emotion and gives the movie the weight that it deserves.The picture quality is not perfect but is very good, except for about the first couple of minutes and the last couple of minutes. At those points, the picture has some noticeable film damage, but almost all of the rest of the DVD has a clean picture. There are no extras to speak of, apart from some trailers of other movies from the same studio. (Incidentally, one of these, Chun Tao, is also a very good, if somewhat depressing, movie.)I consider a movie to be good based on whether I would like to watch it again. I have watched Arhats in Fury three times and plan to watch more, so I give this one the full five stars for its genre. You may not like it as much as I do, but if you enjoy martial arts films and have patience to follow a sometimes complicated story-line, then you may enjoy this one.

Now potential buyers should be warned that the first 20 minutes of this film will have raised your eyebrows all the way up to the North Pole. I had absolutely no idea what was going on. The lead character is only glimpsed in that time. My recommendation is to re-watch that first mysterious chunk after the film is completed, and that will help... some.The basic story concerns a young monk named Chi Sing (Lau Jan Ling) and his master (Go Hung Ping), who are sent out on the Shaolin equivalent of a "vision quest". No food, no water, nothing. It seems that this pair are constantly at odds with the strict and antiquated rules of the temple, and as a result, are constantly being punished for their insubordination, Chi Sing specifically. In the name of defense and starvation, Chi Sing is forced to kill some crows, another mega-no-no. While making their way back to the temple, they encounter a village being attacked by the invading Jins (who ruled Northern China for most of the 12th century), and though he tries hard, Chi Sing can't take the slaughter and jumps in to help. Though he becomes a hero to the village and a group of rebels, he is determined to return to the temple and accept his punishment. To make matters worse, the Jins show up at the temple to look for the humble hero and start killing monks; until Chi Sing, his master, and some rebels intervene. Now hailed as a hero by the younger monks of the temple, the older abbots still wish to punish him severely. The rebels then free him from captivity and his secular temper eventually decides to help them.If you start paying attention at the part where he and his master are being eaten by crows, you should be alright. I don't normally like to give too much plot away, but there's still a lot more to this film to see and enjoy, including bizarre animal attacks, and some awesome fights. The choreography in mainland Wushu films is quite different from Hong Kong films. Full of grace and form, they are a real joy to watch. Of course, the editing could have been a little better but...As with all of Xenon's releases that I've seen, it's hard to say if it's really remastered or not. The widescreen presentation and good picture quality would indicate a strong "possibly". There are a couple of brief scenes where hardly anything can be distinguished, though it's not really a big deal. This is another case where I wish there was an option for subtitles (English language only). They might have helped clear up some of the confusion early on. Probably not though. Either way, it's a good story, with some original plot elements, emotionally-charged content, and good fights, though more would have been nice. Watch with a friend: It'll make for some interesting and speculative conversation. 3.5/5 and RECOMMENDED.Special thanks to Morgoth for clarification. My apologies for the title.1985

This mainland China production, like all wushu movies produced and directed by the People's Republic, features some of the most extraordinary fight choreography ever captured on film, in particular those involving the leading actress, Hongping Gao, who is indubitably one of the lesser known but greatest female martial arts practitioner I have ever encountered in my over forty years of experience watching wushu movies; far eclipsing the main star, Lau Jan Ling, who nevertheless puts in a commendable performance as the hero who challenges the traditional rules governing the Shaolin Temple elders and lends the movie a thought provoking aspect in questioning the wisdom of strictly adhering to rules and laws even though they have been established over a period of time; and also contains some of the most remarkable scenes involving attack by animals, namely birds and monkeys, which lends for great cinematic effect as one of the most incredible moment ever captured in the history of film.

I had this movie on VHS tape, yes i said it and so glad to have come across the DVD version. Very happy with purchase and thank you Seller of this rare movie.

Xenon strikes again. This listed as Chinese language with English subs. Listed as dubbed also. Fact is it's dubbed period, has no English subs. It does have Chinese subs which are burned in and cannot be turned off. The picture itself goes from pretty good to bad to downright awful. If you want a decent copy, then get the Tai Seng version. It has a monk lifting a girl in blue on the cover. Do yourself a favor and stay far from Any Xenon release. They suck period.

do not buy

love it

received item thanks.