I suppose that the 1976 martial arts movie titled "Shaolin Wooden Men" (aka Shao Lin mu ren xiang") was a great movie back in the day when it was newly released. But sitting down to watch it for the first time in 2021, I have to say that the movie wasn't all that great.

Of course I sat down to watch the 1976 movie because I am a fan of Jackie Chan and never had the chance to watch "Shaolin Wooden Men" before now in 2021.

Sure, "Shaolin Wooden Men" was watchable, but it was held back by a lack of proper storyline. It was essentially just a movie that consisted of 90% fighting and very little effort put into constructing a wholehearted storyline.

And for a Jackie Chan movie then it wasn't outstanding. Sure, he was new and up and coming back then, but this was not among his best of performances, neither in terms of martial arts, stunts or acting performances.

Some of the scenes in the movie were interesting and nicely executed, don't get me wrong. But the movie was just suffering from an interior storyline which proved to be rather thin and weak.

It should be said that most of the fight scenes throughout the course of "Shaolin Wooden Men" weren't really all that nicely performed. They were just too obviously staged and delivered in a manner that screamed 1-2-3, moves set up to be formed in a specific order. The fight scenes just didn't have that usual natural flow to them that Jackie Chan is known for. The scene with the wooden men, though, was actually quite impressive - stupid and silly, but impressive.

"Shaolin Wooden Men" is a movie for the diehard fans of Jackie Chan. If you sit down to watch it because it is a martial arts movie, then chances are you will be left sorely disappointed.

My rating of writer Hsin Chin and director Chi-Hwa Chen's 1976 movie lands on a mediocre five out of ten stars.

SHAOLIN WOODEN MEN is an early Jackie Chan film that marked only his second starring role after 1976's NEW FIST OF FURY. SHAOLIN WOODEN MEN sees Jackie labouring under the control of producer Lo Wei while the film offers a plot of revenge and retribution that was done to death in '70s kung fu films. The movie kicks off with a fight scene – always good for a martial arts flick. It sees Jackie battling various monks who have been trained as animal masters. Jackie is dressed in a white suit, while the background is totally black, and there are a few candles dotted around. The fights go on for a good while, and are well choreographed – in fact they're the best fights in the film. It soon becomes clear why this scene – which has nothing to do with the rest of the movie – was added at the film's beginning; it's because there's no human fighting for the next hour.

We're soon into the cheesy titles and then a dream sequence in which we get to see the wooden men of the title. As the wooden men sequence only occupies a very small amount of screen time in the film itself, I guess the film-makers decided to put them in at the beginning as well to try and justify the title. The story finally begins for real at the Shaolin Temple, as Jackie, playing a raw recruit, starts his work as a handyman for the monks – carrying water, chopping wood. I'm afraid these scenes are as uninteresting as they sound, and seem to go on interminably before any sign of a plot shows up. A bald drunk appears for the purposes of comic relief, but he fails to make much of an impact.

One day, Jackie follows two of the monks into a cave and comes upon a prisoner who has been chained in the depths of a cave for a decade. Jackie befriends the man, bringing him food and wine, and in repayment the prisoner trains him in the martial arts – the story going that Jackie isn't actually allowed to learn Shaolin techniques from the monks for another three years. There's also a weird old woman who teaches Jackie the 'snake step' technique, which involves him climbing into an oil pit and skidding all over the place. Finally Jackie is ready to fight the wooden men for real, and the result is an action scene that can only be described as cheesy: the wooden men are cumbersome, and it's not clear how they work – the chains that are supposed to move them are useless, and it's obvious that real men are inside the wooden costumes. This scene is clearly ripped off from an earlier kung fu film called 18 BRONZEMEN, although nowhere near as effectively.

This film sees Jackie saddled in a Bruce Lee-type role – he's even got the same haircut as the late kung fu master. He's forced into doing some Bruce Lee style emoting at the film's climax, but for the rest of the film he's mute, a strong silent fighter in the Lee tradition. It's clear that Jackie was uncomfortable acting in Bruce's shadow, and his character is a bit foolish – I never did figure out why he took the ten-year vow of silence after his father was murdered. His character's habit of frantically bowing to everybody he meets is the funniest thing in the film. It's a shame SHAOLIN WOODEN MEN is so devoid of action, because a martial arts film without fighting is like butter without bread – there's no point to it. Director Chen Chi-Hwa experiments a little by skipping frames in places and overdoing the zoom technique in one scene, but it's clear throughout that Lo Wei, as producer, was calling the shots on this production, and that he was determined to produce a film in virtually the same style as a Bruce Lee movie, with Jackie standing in as a replacement for the late star.

(Partial credit to IMDb) Jackie witnesses the death of his father, at the hands of a merciless killer, who just happens to be a martial arts master. Jackie vows to never speak again until he avenges the death of his Father, and become a Shaolin Monk. He encounters many kooky characters along the way, and befriends them. They all teach him different aspects of Kung-Fu (Drunken, killing, slippery snake, and more)

I wouldn't exactly call this movie great entertainment, but it does manage to entertain for the most part. Right from the outset of the movie we are treated to rather lengthy fight sequences. The plot is nothing special. It's the typical "train me Fung-Fu" type of thing at this juncture, with plenty of slapstick involving the token drunk, among other things. The Wooden Men thing is more than just a gimmick. It acts as an insurmountable obstacle, no matter how great your Kung-Fu is. I won't spoil it, but the one involving Jackie Chan & The Wooden Men is absolutely exhilarating! I would consider it to be a fight sequence, essentially, and it's one of the greatest fight scenes I've ever witnessed in all my years of watching martial art films. Jackie's ability to move out of the way of these things countless times, time and time again is incredible. It's one of the coolest athletic feats i've ever seen. Jackie Chan has barely any dialog, as a matter of fact… He doesn't speak until the very end of the film (!) He is a mute for most of the duration, to sell the death of his Father. It's kinda hard to grade his performance because of it, but Jackie's presence can't be denied. He could peel a potato for an hour, and I'd probably be interested in all likelihood. The big fight at the end is also very enthralling. I wouldn't call this one of Jackie's best films, but its entertainment value is unequivocally high. If you manage to find it, and you're a big Jackie Chan fan, I definitely recommend seeing this movie. It's a thoroughly enjoyable, cheapie.

6.9/10