I have been waiting very, very patiently for a new film Shaolin to come out here in the States. Literally translated from Chinese, Xin Shaolin Shi, its title is “New Shaolin Temple.” I first saw the trailer last summer and immediately vowed to avoid low quality bootleg versions. I planned to watch it in the theater, preferably in HD digital or at least Blu-Ray at home; it looked too visually stunning with vast vistas of classic Chinese landscapes and beautifully skillful kung fu to watch pixelated and blurry.
Quite star-studded with Jackie Chan and Andy Lau, this film has the potential promise of a story filled with historical hearth-ache and lots of cement-breaking kung-fu awesomeness. The solidity and weight of the martial arts is palpable just in viewing the trailers.
There are few things in this world I love more than kung fu, ninjas, and kids doing martial arts, and this film has all three.
In January 2011, it was released in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Philippines, and Hong Kong. I almost wanted to fly to Taiwan just to watch it but I can find absolutely no news of it coming out here in the United States. All I can do is sit silently while shedding emo tears in my own little kung fu movie time-out corner until it finally makes the long trek across the Pacific to my home shores.
