The Shaolin Plot Blu-ray Review: Old School Sammo Hung

The Shaolin Plot is new to me so when Arrow put out a new Blu-ray I took the opportunity to catch up. It’s about martial arts schools and their secret manuals which is a tried and true formula. What it means for us is several different unique styles of Kung Fu.

In addition to sound martial arts, you’ve got boomerang razor cymbals, blades hidden in blunt weapons and portable spikes. This also features Sammo Hung choreography, and an antagonist performance, before he took the name Sammo. He’s the one hurling the cymbals.

This Golden Harvest entry looks as great on Blu-ray as the many Shaw Brothers movies we’ve seen. Bright red railings, pillars and uniforms pop, especially when they battle martial artists in yellow robes too.

The bonus features include two commentaries by regulars Frank Djeng, and the duo of Mike Leeder and Arne Venema. Both are full of historical and industry context, though I saw a lot more of the wires than Djeng did. Maybe he wasn’t watching on Blu-ray.

Leader and Venema are a little more casual than Djeng, but they have some more perspective on Sammo Hung’s artistic inclinations and some other facets of business and distribution .

The disc also includes the English only opening credits, which are in white instead of red.