dworldeater
Heroes Of The East aka Shaolin Challenges Ninja is one of many collaborations between actor Gordon Liu and director Lau Kar Leung brought to us by the legendary Shaw Bros. Studios. Gordon Liu has an arranged marriage with a woman from Japan. His wife is an expert of various Japanese fighting styles and each party is of the viewpoint that their style is better than the other. Their various sparring matches cause serious tension in their marriage as well as destroy much of the house. Gordon Liu is, of course an awesome exponent of Chinese kung fu. His wife takes off to Japan and in an effort to get his wife back, slams the Japanese martial arts and challenges her to a competition. His wife's martial arts instructor/love interest grabs the letter from her and does not appreciate the letter's content. Next thing you know Yasuaki Karata and a bunch of Japanese dudes show up at Gordon Liu's pad and challenge him to a tournament. Gordon Liu accepts and fights each representative of various Japanese fighting styles. What separates Heroes Of The East from various other Chinese vs Japanese productions is that it respects both cultures and their fighting styles as well. There are lots of great fights to be had here and both Gordon Liu and Yasuaki Kurata are in top form. Heroes Of The East is indeed a solid martial arts film but it is nowhere near as essential as Lau Kar Leung/Gordon Liu's kung fu masterwork The 36 Chambers Of Shaolin aka Master Killer. Heroes Of The East still resonates and is an enjoyable, fast paced and cohesive martial arts film that is memorable and far above average.
ali-nagori
1st thing this movie is only enjoyable if lack the knowledge in family relations , dojo and martial arts history.i would'd liked the movie if the movie was based on group single per person challenge but the movie has a such an insult to the viewer by creating a super human martial artist who could master a completely arcane art in a single evening , and he is a grandmaster in all chines combat techniques in a very very young age , let alone to make look the Japaneses as complete joke , i don't even want to mention all those. but beside that , the combat sequences and the cryptography was very will done , but i was unable to enjoy most of it because of the insulting plot and story.
hmmdrmike
With a title like Shaolin Challenges Ninja... how could this movie not be amazing? With excellently choreographed fight scenes, a decent storyline (horrible translation... but that just adds to its reputation as a classic), and a great assortment of fighting styles and weaponry, this movie is amazing.And there's not that much more to say. Watch this movie if you're a fan of classic Shaw Brother's martial arts mayhem. The only disappointment would come in how easily the hero defeats each villain. But his reasons for non-violence fit the storyline and thus, can't be avoided.A non-violent action movie? Yes it is... and it still rules. Enjoy.
Macholic
This is classic martial arts with everything that comes with it, including, to start with the downside first: A terrible English dub. The videotape I saw was also cropped. But if you can past that and get on to the movie you're in for a positive surprise. Drunk Shaolin.. is as good as it gets and offers a great sense of humor without getting silly. In brief the story is about a Chinese man who happens to be a kung fu expert marries a Japanese girl who is a an avid karate fighter. Trouble is certainly ahead as she chucks out her husband's Chinese kung fu weapons to make room for her own Japanese weapons, even worse: He insults her karate she takes it personally as so does her teacher in Japan and a group of his crack students, so they are off to China to challenge her husband to a duel. What follows is a fantastic display of Japanese contra Chinese weapons and techniques presented with considerable style as well as humor. I watched this film many times, it is joy forever. 8/10