“Shaolin Temple” was a monumental kung-fu movie. Not to be confused with the unrelated Shaw Brothers movie of the same name from 1976, 1982’s “Shaolin Temple” is cited as the first martial arts movie to be made in mainland China (many had already been made in Hong Kong) and the first movie to star Jet Li (“Fearless”, “The Expendables”).

In this film, Li stars as a Jue Yuan, a young man facing persecution at the hands of a sadistic military leader. He takes refuge with martial arts monks and learns their magnificent fighting skills. Despite the peaceful teachings of the monks, the young man is determined to avenge his father’s murder.

Li was already a big deal in the martial arts world and then this film helped make him an icon of Chinese cinema. It wouldn’t be until the late 90s that he would achieve more global recognition. However, this was a huge deal in China. Even though this is his first film, he manages to give a good performance. It’s not as serious as many of his later films so he’s very likeable here. Also, his fighting skills are legendary. Many of the other characters are not especially memorable and feel like the characters in countless other martial arts movies but that’s okay for a film like this.

“Shaolin Temple” may not have the most fascinating script or characters but that doesn’t really matter because the action sequences are terrific. The film looks better than a lot of kung-fu movies from the era too. Hong Kong was leading the way with countless martial arts movies in the 70s such as Bruce Lee’s “Fist Of Fury” and Jackie Chan’s “Drunken Master” so the mainland had a lot of catching up to do. There is no denying that “Shaolin Temple” remains a splendid martial arts movie after so many years and it’s worth checking out.