Ho-hum period piece from China about a warlord who, after witnessing the death of his daughter, seeks redemption by embracing the life of a Buddhist monk. His transformation is mostly recycled from other films such as Dances with Wolves, The Last Samurai, and Jet Li’s Fearless: the combative man who finds conscience and purpose by living amongst primitive, spiritually resonant folk. In those films the message of inner peace is betrayed by the need for a violent climax, and Shaolin is no different. A valiant attempt is made to space out the hokey fight scenes with some human drama, but this only makes the martial arts more distracting and absurd. (2011) — John Rubio
This movie is not currently in theaters.