Film

The Shaolin Plot

Name: The Shaolin Plot
Genre: Action
Released: 1977
Cast: Chan Sing, James Tien Chun, Casanova Wong, Guan Shan, Wang Hsieh

Martial arts action

A 1977 Hong Kong kung fu film where a Wu Tang student races to stop a villainous master from collecting deadly martial arts manuals. It's a propulsive action picture with elaborate fight choreography, minimal plot scaffolding, and the particular charm of '70s exploitation filmmaking. For anyone who loves the genre in its pre-irony era.

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The 36th Chamber of Shaolin1978

Gordon Liu's methodical journey through training sequences and escalating challenges became the template for kung fu cinema. If you love watching a hero earn mastery through repetition and ingenuity, this is essential.

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The film that launched a thousand imitators, with a hero pursuing mystical kung fu knowledge while enemies close in. Fast, violent, and driven by pure momentum and visual spectacle.

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Sammo Hung directs and stars in this brilliantly choreographed romp where a con artist trains a prince in martial arts. The fights are inventive, funny, and bursting with character.

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Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Shaolin Plot

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Zatoichi and the Chess Expert1965

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But It's Japanese cinema from the mid-'60s—slower, more literary, and less interested in spectacle. The swordplay is brief and brutal rather than elaborate.

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Chang Cheh's operatic revenge epic with stunning weapon choreography and genuine emotional weight. A man learns a legendary fighting style to avenge his family. Pure cinema.

But It's graphically violent and emotionally bleak in ways that can feel punishing. Not a fun watch, more a dark meditation.

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Lau Kar-leung's precise, anatomically grounded martial arts filmmaking combined with a revenge narrative that actually matters. The fights feel like problems being solved.

But The pacing is slow and methodical; there's a lot of waiting between sequences. If you want constant action, you'll be disappointed.

The Magnificent Butcher1979

Sammo Hung and Yuen Woo-ping collaborate on a film about a butcher learning kung fu from a drunken master. Chaotic, funny, and genuinely inventive in its choreography.

But The plot is essentially nonsense, held together by fights and slapstick. The tone wobbles unpredictably between comedy and drama.

Heroes Two1974

Chang Cheh and Lau Kar-leung's study of two martial brothers training together, with some of the most technically precise fight sequences ever filmed. Slow-burn and mesmerizing.

But Narratively spare and very long. If you're not captivated by the fighting itself, stretches will feel empty.

Shaolin Temple1982

Jet Li's film debut, a handsome production about a young man seeking justice through martial training. More accessible and polished than many '70s entries, with real emotional stakes.

But The production values and earnestness can feel glossy compared to grittier period pieces. Some find it less raw than its predecessors.

Clan of the White Lotus1980

A rare villain-focused revenge narrative where a kung fu master hunts the woman who killed his brothers. Visceral, focused, and genuinely tense throughout.

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Romulus and Remus1961

Both films pit martial masters against each other in a narrative about power and corruption. Both treat combat as something consequential and tragic rather than thrilling.

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But It's a historical epic in the old Hollywood mode—very long, occasionally ponderous, and entirely unconcerned with the kind of punch-by-punch action spectacle you're expecting.

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A kung fu story stripped to pure visual storytelling: a master, an enemy, a series of trials. The 1977 film's DNA, but taken to its logical extreme by modern cinema.

A modern Thai action film about a legendary fighter emerging from isolation when a villain threatens his homeland. Utterly spare, visually stunning, and built around single-take fight sequences of devastating precision.

But Almost no dialogue, almost no plot. What you get is a visual poem about aging, honor, and the weight of mastery. If you need narrative structure, this will feel incomplete.