O Clã do Lotus Branco

Shaolin kung-fu practitioners and brothers Wu and Hung (Gordon Liu) attack and kill the merciless Pai Mei; they and other Shaolin disciples are jailed, but their release is ordered because "the people" want them to be free. However, Pai Mei's even more merciless brother White Lotus (Lo Lieh) has other ideas; he kills off many members of the Shaolin Temple, including Wu and Hung's girlfriend, leaving Wu's pregnant wife Mei-Hsiao (Kara Hui) and Hung as practically the only members of Shaolin left to avenge the deaths. But Hung can't defeat White Lotus with a combination of the tiger and crane kung-fu moves that he and his brother used to defeat Pai Mei; instead, it is up to Mei-Hsiao to teach him feminine kung-fu techniques, the styles of embroidery and acupuncture. Will those be enough to defeat the evil White Lotus, or must Hung pay the price that his brother and their people did? Kung-fu movies, particularly those of producers the Shaw Brothers, don't really require much in the way of close attention to the plot, as the plot primarily exists to move the characters from one fight sequence to another. And the sound effects accompanying those fights are just sublime! Gordon Liu and Lo Lieh were international stars of the form, prior to the advent of Bruce Lee even; and ironically, in Tarantino's "Kill Bill Vol. 2," Liu plays Pai Mei, the character his character in this film kills off at the beginning of the movie, setting the story in motion. FantAsia 2012 was lucky enough to locate the last surviving celluloid copy of this classic film, complete with garbled English subtitles and faded-to-red colour scheme (the result of the passage of years, not an intentional part of the film), and as long as you check your logical brain in at the door, it's a hoot to watch, 30-odd years on!

Gives you what you want out of this kind of straightforward martial arts movie- a simple premise that's an excuse for lots of fights to take place, and plenty of fun action.

The closest this movie comes to slowing down is when the main character needs to train at a few points in order to get stronger so he can fight better and fight more. The action is otherwise constant, and maybe even exhausting, but it's fun and never boring as a result.

There might be a slight case of quantity over quality, as there are a few times where the choreography isn't flawless and you can tell people aren't getting hit, but oh well, it's pretty forgivable.

A good time, and recommended if you're in the mood for a pure martial arts action movie.

I must have seen this Shaw Brothers movie on TV in the 1980s because it seemed very familiar as I watched the DVD. Apparently this is a sequel to Executioners from Shaolin. The movie opens with a flashback to a fight between white-haired monk Pai Mei and a two-man team featuring Gordon Liu and another fellow. The monk is extremely tough so it is necessary to double-team him with Tiger Style and Crane Style. This is the setup for the current story where Pai Mei's brother Pak Mei another white-haired monk is out for revenge. In this adventure there is no partner to use Crane style so Gordon needs special training to make up for it. It was a lot of fun watching Gordon learning woman's style kung fu to get an advantage over Pak Mei the White Lotus. Check this one out at the video store if you get the chance because Gordon Liu will be a white-haired kung fu master named Pai Mei in Kill Bill Volume 2.

Another churned out Hong Kong production by the Shaw brothers in what can be seen as a Kung Fu cult classic starring the likes of Gordon Liu and Leih Lo as the priest white lotus in colourful performances. The story follows that Shaolin students being released from prison, to only be hunted down by members of the white lotus clan. Survivor Hong Wen-Ting seeks revenge against the priest white lotus for killing his best friend and his fiancé

For me there's something nostalgic about the sub-genre, which always brings a smile. Fun, brash and exciting all rolled into one. "Clan of the White Lotus" spends a lot of time either on the masterfully shot and heart racing choreographed martial arts involving the many attempts to take the priest white lotus' life and that of Hong Wen-Ting constantly training to change and strengthen his fighting style to do so. While frequently violent and bloody, it stays rather comical. These tend to be around the training and the constantly amusing charades involving the White Lotus and Hong Wen-Ting. Lieh Lo also directs; crafting out eccentric set-pieces with precision and impressionable images clocking in with creative slow-motion and detailed backdrops. The only thing is that a uniformity pattern starts to work its way in.

When Hung Wending and Brother Biu defeat Priest White Eyebrows, the White Lotus Clan comes out for revenge. When Shaolin monks are released from captivity, Ko Chun Chung and the master White Lotus Priest slaughter them and turn towards Ting and Biu. Wending and his pregnant sister-in-law flee the battle to fight another day. The next day comes but Wending's crane and tiger style is clearly no match for the White Lotus Priest – and no matter how much he practices on the hapless Brother Shing, it is not getting better. Once her baby is born, his sister-in-law teaches him some unusual techniques to try to refine his skills to be capable of winning.

The opening battle of this film confused me a little bit, until I realized that it was more or less picking up from the end of Hong Xi Guan (Executioner from Shaolin). From here we get a plot which is fairly generic in terms of its details – a boss villain of great power, and a man who will train to defeat him, leading to a big final battle at the end. In this way the film does just what it does and there is not really much in the way of story beyond the tickboxes it goes through. What makes it good though is that there is a good sense of humor throughout. It takes a minute to get to, but once Brother Shing is in the film, it gets consistently very funny – both in his performance but also the way that Wending embraces the more feminine style of kung-fu. Between these two factors it is quite amusing.

The action is mostly good, although having watched a lot of films using weapons recently, I did miss this aspect of it since most of this is hand-to-hand. I also am not a fan of the whole 'retractable groin' thing – I remember it from the previous film and, although it is used less here, it is still in the character. Generally though the performances of Liu and Lo are both very good, playing off one another well. I was perhaps not as taken by the action as I would have liked, but it is done with a certain amount of fun, while the majority of the film does have frequent laughs and chuckles, making it an entertaining if slightly silly affair.