The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin vs Return to the 36th Chamber

[brookman3325]

The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin vs Return to the 36th Chamber

What ones better?

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Return by an inch. Great comedy, and one of the best final fights of all time. I saw Return before I saw the original, so that probably factors into my decision. I give both a rating of 10/10.

[Shaolin Chamber 36]

'Return' has comedy, and better fight scenes, definitely more creative.

'36th' is pretty much all serious, but nicely done training scenes within Shaolin, and a good story overall.

I agree with Morgoth, both a 10/10.

[Blood Sword]

Original...return is quite dire only in the very end there is some quality stuff.I found scenes where gordon lius shows his fake powers exceptionally stupid.

36th is enjoyable from start to finish.

[Jstn]

I feel that Return is better - fight choreography was better imo and thats what I look for most in kung fu movies.

[lillippa328]

Return is good...but imo Original by far....Return was too slow imo...the last fight scene was incredible but the first one had the awsome training and all the cool shaolin stuff!

[Tosh]

Return was very innovative in the training scenes and the final fight but it lacked the desperation and emotion of the first one, it was more like a moral lesson, some of the beginning nonsense got out of hand. Both great movies but I'd have to go with the original 36 Chamber of Shaolin.

[Chinatown Kid]

The original for me as well, best overall film and a classic.

[kungfusamurai]

I grew up on The Master Killer. I only watched Return years later when Ground Zero released it on DVD. To me they don't compare other than the fact that they have the same actor playing a San Te character.

The first is a great dramatic story with some kung fu fights (sorry I put 'films' here earlier). The second film is a silly comedy with some good fight scenes. Even 36th Chamber doesn't have as many fights, they are much more memorable than the ones in Return. The Lee Hoi San fight is probably the highlight for most people, but I also enjoy Liu vs John Chang. The Lo Lieh fight felt anti-climactic, maybe because there wasn't much fighting once he lost his weapon.

KFS

[mtausig]

The first is a great dramatic story with some kung fu films. The second film is a silly comedy with some good fight scenes.

KFS

Agreed. In a way, it's a parable about Gordon's breaking in to the bizz. While he did it quicker than others, you saw him start out, and work up to the prowess that he has forever indemnified onto the kf world. In my opinion, the fact that a kf movie could be done with almost no comedy, and still be so entertaining is a tribute to the lasting effect of the movie. I like the comedy, but soooo many movies straight up suck because they were attempts at serious kung fu drama. One director once said "we can't take it too seriously or we'll bore ourselves". This is true in almost every picture, but the original breaks that. The few comical scenes or spoofs don't ham it up enough to pull it out of its dramatic fortitude.

[IgaNinja]

First 36th for me,Return was good,but 36th was Great.

[lillippa328]

I actually liked Disciples better than Return

[Iron Boat]

Both films have a glaring weakness, in Return its the comedy and lack of an emotional center. In the original its the final act, when he leaves Shaolin the film sputters and runs out of momemtum. With that said place Return's final fight on the original and it would of been perfect. It took awhile but I finally got the film I wanted from LKL with 8 Diagram Pole Fighter.

[massa_yoda]

Fun thread. As many people have said, the original has got better training scenes while Return has a better final fight. For me the winner is Return. It's just more fun and thus more rewatchable. The humor does usually work too. And even when it doesn't, it's not bad enough to ruin the film. I've seen much worse from this genre. I like the comedy when it's not too intrusive and Return is definately my kind of movie. The original is too... but Return more so.

[SunChien]

It's hard to pick for me. Maybe Return by a slim margin as the last fight wasn't so one-sided like it was in 36th Chamber.

Still I liked the training scenes in the original with such scenes like training his eyes for attacks from the blindside and walking on the logs on the water.

Two of my favorite quotes from those films are:

"Do not enter the dining hall until you are fully Clean-sed!"

"Shaolin Monk, you flew down just then, so why don't you fly back up again?"

[kungfusamurai]

I found a clip showing my favorite 36th chamber fight scene, where Gordon Liu fights John Chang. It starts at the 3:30 min mark. It reminds me of the intro to Executioners From Shaolin when Liu is fighting through various men to get to Chiang Tao. While I like watching Gordon Liu fight with weapons, I think he excels in the empty hand combat. And the way he kills John Chang, or gets him killed, is really innovative.

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KFS