Jet Li’s Shaolin Temple Movies Ranked From Worst To Best
A bona fide action star in Hong Kong before breaking into English-language Hollywood films, Jet Li began training in martial arts at the age of eight, learning modern wushu. Born in Beijing, Li went on to represent China in wushu competitions around the world, even performing a demonstration for American President Richard Nixon on the White House lawn.
Li’s extensive wushu skills caught the
attention of the film industry, and in 1982, Shaolin Temple marked Li’s feature film debut. Not only was Shaolin Temple a huge hit in China, it also had a real-world impact.
The film’s success sparked a surge of interest in China’s legendary Shaolin Monastery, known as the epicenter of Bruce Lee’s kung fu. The Shaolin Monastery itself has become the basis for countless martial arts films and has become one of China’s biggest tourist attractions, all thanks to the influence of the Shaolin Temple.
Below is a ranking of Jet Li’s Shaolin Temple films from worst to best.
3. Shaolin Temple 2: Kids From Shaolin (1984)
Martial arts master Jet Li plays Sanlong, the adoptive son of former Shaolin monk Tianlong (Yu Hai). Tialong and his brother Yilong (Hu Jianqiang) raise Sanlong and seven other orphans, training them in kung fu and teaming up with the Wudang kung fu-practicing Bao family to face a gang of vengeful bandits. Kids from Shaolin was a major hit in China in 1984, but it is often remembered as the least successful of the series, and rightfully so. Kids from Shaolin is by far the cheesiest of the three films, with plenty of comedy and even musical numbers woven into its story, but unfortunately these elements mostly fall short; the film as a whole is considered one of the least successful action roles of Li’s career.
2. The Shaolin Temple (1982)
At just 19 years old, Jet Li made his film debut in The Shaolin Temple as the vengeful Jue Yuan. After a local warlord kills his father, Jue is taken in by the monks of the Shaolin Monastery, becoming skilled in kung fu and determined to stop the warlord’s conquest. While full of great martial arts fighting styles and training scenes, The Shaolin Temple is most remembered for its famed Four Seasons montage. With Li training in various unarmed and weapons forms over the course of a year, the montage showed Jet Li right out of the gate as an incredible Wushu athlete and strong screen presence. Shot over a three-year period and the first movie to use the actual Shaolin Monastery as a location, The Shaolin Temple launched Jet Li’s career and made the lore of the Shaolin Temple and Shaolin martial arts the new kung fu movie craze.
1. Martial Arts of Shaolin (1986)
Shaolin Temple 3: also known as simply Martial Arts of Shaolin, stands as both Jet Li’s only Shaw Brothers movie as well as his only collaboration with legendary kung fu movie director Liu Chia-liang (or Lau Kar-leung, as he’s officially credited). On both counts, it’s an outstanding martial arts film. Li plays monk Ling Zhi-ming, a promising student of the Northern Shaolin Temple who embarks on a revenge mission against magistrate He Suo (Yu Chenghui).RELATED:
American Shaolin (1991) Biography, Plot, Production
Containing easily the best action scenes of the whole trilogy, Martial Arts of Shaolin is true to its title in bringing a wide collection of Northern and Southern fist and weapons forms into its practically non-stop martial arts fight scenes. The movie also shows great creativity with its training sequences, including a calligraphy competition between monks with kung fu combat thrown into the mix. Martial Arts of Shaolin is also the most sweeping entry in the Shaolin Temple movie series, capturing China’s scenic beauty in locations like the Forbidden City.