SHAOLIN SOCCER
aka SIU LAM JUK KAU
Year: 2001
USA: Miramax Films
UK: Optimum Releasing
Cast: Stephen Chow, Vicki Zhao, Man Tat Ng, Yin Tse, Sarondar Li, Yut Fei Wong, Cecilia Cheung, Karen Mok, Kar-Ying Law, Kwok Kuen Chan, Ming Ming Cheung, Lam Chi Chung, Vincent Kok, Lam Chi-Sing, Hui Li, Chi Wan Sik, Kai Man Tin, Brian Tochi, Ron Yuan
Director: Stephen Chow
Countries: Hong Kong / USA
Language: Cantonese (English subtitles) / English Dubbed Version
USA & UK: 87 mins
USA Rated: PG-13 for action violence and thematic elements. Previously rated: PG in 2002.
UK Certificate: 12A contains moderate violence and drug use
USA Release Date: 2 April 2004 (Limited Release - Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco)
UK Release Date: 12 November 2004
Synopsis
20 years ago ...
The Final match of the National Soccer Championships is underway. In the last kick of the match Fung, the star player, accepts a bribe from his teammate Hung and misses a crucial penalty kick costing the match. Chaos ensued after the match as the losing teams fans erupt and Fung's (Man Tat Ng) golden foot was broken in a vicious attack by angry fans.
Today ...
Years later with his life and career in ruins, Fung is finally reduced to living life on the streets as a hobo. To make matters worse, his old teammate Hung who replaced Fung as the team star player, has become the country's most influential figure in the National Soccer League.
On the edge of a small soccer field Fung watches as Sing (Stephen Chow), a Shaolin student, fights against a mob of local gangsters. At one point Sing is cornered and fights his way out showcasing his powerful martial arts kicking skills. Fung' watches Sings with interest and immediately imagines him as a future soccer star.
Fung persuades Sing and his comrades to form a soccer team and sign up for the National Soccer Tournament. With Fung as their coach, he plans to change the face of sport forever by unleashing this team's talent for kung fu onto the soccer field. Sing agrees, seeing this as an opportunity to show the fans the true spirit of Shaolin monks.
Back at the monastery an unattractive young girl Mui (Vicki Zhao) is using her martial arts to prepare and cook steamed bread. She secretly admires Sing but has never revealed her true feelings because of her ugly looks. Coincidentally, Sing has fantasized of a beautiful girl on occasion.
Sing and his Shaolin Team, under Fung's expert management, successfully defeat all opponents and secure a place in the National Soccer Final. Their opponents are Hung's Evil Soccer Team who have utilized the latest training techniques and technology to train. These training methods have created a team of calculated cold-blooded devils.
In the final match Sing and his team mates are tested to their physical limits as they are bashed and smashed by incredibly terrifying kicks resulting in the players suffering the most serious injuries.
The halftime whistle blows and the Shaolin Team heads for the tunnel facing the stark reality of a humiliating defeat. It is then that the appearance someone completely unexpected changes their hopeless situation, which allows Sing and his team mates to get the indomitable spirit of Shaolin back.