Shaolin Soccer(2001) Review

Every local Hong Kong people must have watched Shaolin Soccer once or one time above before. This movie was played by Sunday Movie which is a programme of TVB every Sundays. The main theme of the movie is to add the element of Kung Fu into soccer. The genre of this movie is action comedy. Kung Fu as known as a traditional Chinese martial art is a representation about Chinese. It also symbolizes the strength of the Chinese and it makes foreigners respect Chinese in movie industry back in the time. In Shaolin Soccer, Sing (Stephen Chow) recruits seven soccer players from his former monastery to form a soccer team which the members have hidden talents in order to win the $1 million grand prize.

All members face the reality and they all forget about their dreams when Sing approaches them. They all have their special talents. Sing is famous for his Mighty Steel Leg. Other member are famous for their Golden Leg, Iron Head, Hooking Leg, Iron Shirt, Lightning Hand and Light Weight Vest. Sing's team has their first match and their opponents are not playing fair. Since then, their Kung Fu is returning in the form of their flaming spirit. The most iconic part in the movie is the competition between Shaolin Soccer and Team Evil. The Coach Hung(Patrick Tse Yin) of team evil once said "Actually the referee, linesman, soccer association, soccer federation and soccer committee...all stand on my side. How can they fight with me?" The competition is supposed to be fair. However, Sing's team is facing injustice as other parties in the game shows partiality to Team evil. It is nearly impossible to win the ball game. Most importantly, it is a private revenge for Fung's grudge against Hung. Fung(Ng Man Tat) was known as the Golden Leg years ago because he was a great soccer hero until his leg was broken by Hung. It is not only a football competition, but also the battle between good and evil.

In addition, the goalkeeper Mui (Vicki Zhao) evolves from an ugly duck to a startling beauty. It seems that many female characters have to show her unappealing side in Stephan Chow's films such as Dicky Chow in CJ7 and Turkey in God of Cookery. It is weird that being beautiful is very important for any woman while he shows their unappealing sides. However, Mui has her talent Tai Chi to join his soccer team. How can a woman join the male team? It is like the rise of female empowerment. The topic of female empowerment has been discussed for many years. The movie was made in 2001. In 2023, it is very common that the head position is in charge by female such as the president of Taiwan Tsai Ing wen, the prime minister of New Zeland Jacinda Ardern and the prime minister of Finland Sanna Marin. The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2023 was awarded to Claudia Goldin for Studying Women in the Work Force. Her research uncovered the reasons for gender gaps in labor force participation and earnings. She is the third woman to win the prize. If we still have to address the female empowerment, it just makes Hong Kong degenerate as Iran as Imprisoned Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi has won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize to honour her fight against the oppression of women in Iran.

In the ending, a newspaper article then shows Hung being stripped of his title of soccer chairman and sentenced to jail for five years, while the players of Team Evil are permanently banned from playing soccer professionally. The movie sets a happy ending to show that evil cannot defeat good which bring hope in reality.