The Film: Martial masters Park and Wang Fu trade sons hoping that one day they can have their sons blend the Shaolin and Dragon Fist Styles. However, the evil leader of Wang Fu's Eagle Claw clan, decides it would be far batter to just steal the Shaolin secrets, and in an odd twist, Wang Fu's friend, Park is framed for the theft of the Shaolin fighting manuals. Unable to defeat the Shaolin style, Park is taken prisoner, and his son (actually Wang Fu's son) is left on his own until he is taken in by the Shaolin monasteries cook. The boy, Yueng (played by Gordon Liu- Master Killer, Fist of the White Lotus, Dirty Ho), grows up as a lowly kitchen worker, privately training himself in the martial arts, actually becoming superior to the other students. While, at the Eagle Clan, Parks true son, Chi Lueng (played by Philip Ko- Incredible Kung-fu Master, Bloody Tattoo, Dreadnaught) has also become a martial master. When Chi Lueng is refused the honor of becoming the Eagle Claw Clan's star pupil, Wang Fu informs him of the desire to blend the martial styles of Shaolin and the Dragon Fist. The two men find their fates steered toward each other, as Yueng is briefly reunited with his long lost and long imprisoned surrogate father (Park), and Chi Lueng finds his surrogate father (Wang Fu) assassinated by the two-faced Eagle Claw clan. The two masterless and fatherless warriors are united in their desire to clear their fathers names and take down the nefarious members of the Shaolin temple and the Eagle Claw clan. Will their combined efforts and styles be enough to defeat the clan leaders and the deadly 18 Bronzemen guarding them?

Fury in the Shaolin Temple (1982) is one of those ill conceived kung fu movies of bits and pieces cobbled together. Obviously when they began, they didn't have the film very well planned out and probably made it up as they went along, shooting fight scenes and then splicing some narrative together. You can tell just from the costuming alone this is the case, with Gordon Liu wearing two or three different outfits (monks weren't exactly known for extensive wardrobes) varying from scene to scene; most likely they were outfits from some other movie he was making during the same time. And, it becomes glaringly obvious when they jump to the scene of Philip Ko taking on some assassins, not only is his outfit vastly different (a Bruce Lee looking garb instead of the previous traditional wear), but he has a totally different, short haircut, therefore we know the fight scene was from a completely different movie or filmed way later/way before. Director Godfrey Ho (The Dragon Hero, Angel Enforcers, Deadly Sword, Enter the Invincible Hero), king of the kung fu b movie, also had to shortcut by using the "jump into a different scene method"- that is, since the film was poorly planned, to piece together the fights with the narrative (both scenes shot in different locations), two opponents meet each other, say, in a courtyard, and before they begin to fight they jump in the air at each other, then the film cuts to them landing in a field and fighting, somehow transported to a different location. Not exactly a smooth transition, and it is this kind of sloppiness that really weakens what could have been a decent kung fu movie. It is still nice to see two superstars like Gordon Lui and Philip Ko in some okay fights or sequences, but there are certainly better films in their resume. As it is, Fury in the Shaolin Temple is a worthwhile move if you've already seen better films by the two stars and a horrible introduction to them if you haven't.

On the plus side, it is always nice to see Gordon Liu in any kind of training sequence, and his bit in this film, training in the kitchen while washing pots, stoking the fire, hauling water and wood, is nice. Although Ground Zero makes the film out to be a Gordon Liu film, it is really more of a shared staring vehicle for both Lui and Philip Ko, who has just as many, if not more, scenes than Liu. As a matter of fact, in the final fight, Liu is actually doubled in the fight with the main villain. Philip's best scene is probably the one I mentioned earlier, the scene taken from another film when Philip clearly looks different, in which he uses Drunken Eagle against a Drunken Mantis fighter. The film does come together quite nicely in the end, when Philip and Liu team up against the 18 Bronzemen in the Shaolin courtyard, but it is a brief bit. On a final unforgiving note, the 18 Bronzemen make two appearances in this film, and the two pretty much sum up the unevenness that hurts this film- In the first scene, they are just a bunch of guys in (and I'm not kidding) black and lavender leotards, making them look like some kind of ridiculous avant-garde dance troop. The second time we see them, in the finale, they look right, eerily painted from head to toe in gold and silver, like one is accustomed to seeing them. You take the good and the bad, put them together, and you get something watchable, but ugly.

The DVD: Another budget minded , feature packed presentation from Ground Zeros Hidden Chambers Collection. Picture-The fullscreen picture does show the average amounts of age one is used to with kung fu films, softness, grain, general wear and tear, but the real drawback is that the transfer is especially dark. It would have been nice if a brighter source could have been used, or maybe even a little tweaking of this print. Sound- 2.0 mono, English dub with no glaring defects or muddiness. Unfortunately it is a very bad English dub, one of the ones that gives kung fu movies a bad name, with awkward dialogue delivered by bad actors, really hampering many scenes in the film. Extras- The true saving grace, a gaggle of extras. First the usual Wu Tang stuff like music video interview and audio soundbite. Ground Zero commercial and weblink. Temple of Knowledge Q&A with two martial practitioners. 18 Fatal Previews, 20 mins of fight footage from eighteen films. And now the good stuff- A Gordon Liu bio, with 5 fight scene samples, totaling about 8mins, and a neat but brief 21/2min interview. 18 Shaolin fights, fight film clips from various, unspecified films, about 2mins each, and 18 Bronzemen, 5 fight scenes featuring the kung fu staple villains.

Not a great film, but the extras on the Hidden Chambers Collection DVDs, so far, are the best extras a kung fu fan can find. Considering most barebones kung fu DVDs are the exact same price, it is a welcome addition to any die-hard kung fu fans collection.