Jet Li's father is killed and he barely escapes death. He is taken in by Shaolin monks and nursed back to health. During his stay, he trains to one day be a monk although his father's death is always in his mind and he is eager to settle the score with his father's murderer. While at the monastery, Jet falls for the daughter of one of the Monks. Meanwhile, the people who murdered Jet's father also want him dead. This puts the Shaolin Monks in a bad position and they, along with Jet, must defend themselves in a climatic battle against an army.

Old-school style Kung Fu with Jet Li. What could be better? There is even a catchy song in the beginning that you will have in your head for a week. This movie isn't as polished as FONG SAI YUK and OUATIC but don't let that turn you off. This is Jet's first big picture and he is great in it. The whole cast is exceptional in their use of martial arts. The last battle is epic in scale and has at least three fights on the screen at all times. Very little wire work is used. If you are a Jet Li fan, this is a must see.

The picture quality is actually pretty good. The film print does show its age with signs of damage and some specks here and there. The colors are a little muted but overall it is very watchable. The transfer is good. On my 47 inch screen, artifacts were kept at a minimum and the black levels looked fine.

The sound gives the choice between Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1 in Cantonese or Mandarin. I chose the 2.0 because I don't care for 5.1 mixes of films that were originally in mono. The sound quality is good. Everything is in sync with the action and the music and sound effects don't drown out the dialogue.

The subtitles contain frequent grammatical and spelling errors but they aren't so bad as to be distracting. They are easy to read and are removable. They do appear below the black bars at times. The aspect ratio is 2:35, so using the Malata to zoom in filled the screen horizontally with the subtitles being able to be read fine.

The extras consist of trailers for THE BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR 2 and KIDS FROM SHAOLIN. There is also a short feature on Jet Li which is amusing. This DVD is pretty ambitious for Me Ah.

This movie is a must for Jet Li fans and old-school Kung Fu fans. The DVD is pretty well done but I have to admit that it gave the Malata N996 a little trouble during the end. I actually tried two DVD's. One wouldn't play at the same spot on both the player and computer. The second one still gave the player some problem but I was able to continue watching the movie on my computer. I have to test this DVD on my Sony player. At the moment I think the Malata may be a little sensitive to this DVD but it should be fine on other players. If you are a fan of this movie, the Mei Ah version is the one to get.