Shaolin Soccer is a movie you probably don’t see very often! Just read the pitch to convince you: Stephen Chow’s amazing comedy about a former football great who, with the help of a monk with extraordinary gifts in martial arts, hopes to create a Shaolin team capable of defeating his opponents. .
Available on Paramount+, Shaolin Soccer, released in French cinemas in August 2002, is therefore an absolutely incredible meeting between soccer and kung fu. Let’s dare to describe what we found on the screen with wide eyes as “kung-fut”!
Result ? He is incredible! Completely uninhibited, Shaolin Soccer, a cross between Olive and Tom and Jackie Chan schoolboy comedies, is very funny, very rhythmic, full of ideas, constantly surprising and, above all, rich in frankly incredible special effects.
Shaolin Soccer combines real-life kung fu scenes with computer-generated imagery added during post-production. The film’s technical team also used the bullet-time process, a visual effect used for The Matrix, as well as Wire-fu. The latter technique involves filming the actors’ athletic prowess using invisible cables that support them and allow them to perform acrobatics that would otherwise be impossible.
A feature film of great intelligence that only looks like itself, Shaolin Soccer lets itself do just about anything, like never for a second stray from the side of musical comedy or western. In short, it’s a hilarious piece of WTF entertainment, a frankly stunning little burlesque nugget that I can’t recommend highly enough if you really want to unwind.
Note that after making this amazing Shaolin Soccer, Stephen Chow hit the nail on the head again with Crazy Kung-Fu, which hit theaters three years later and is also highly recommended.
Top 5 movies that talk about football:
Source: Allocine
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
