The 36th Chamber of Shaolin sets itself apart from other kung-fu movies of its era with better choreography and a bigger focus on training.
Many times when a young would-be martial artist has to train in order to defeat his foe he goes through a brief training, learns a deadly technique, then is off to avenge his master/friend/brother/etc. The training aspect of the movie tends to be abbreviated. In this gem of a movie the training phase took considerable time and I loved it.
Yes, we do want to see the protagonist eventually takedown the big boss but it has to have some credibility and some weight. How truly satisfying is that victory if he only trained for a little bit and then is able to be victorious? Even if the training wasn't short in movie time (meaning they condensed a year down to 15 minutes) it still feels less fulfilling. But, when that young man has trained for months or years on end and we get to see his growth and development through several stages, then that brings about a very satisfying win. And that's what we had here: much arduous training to make the protagonist into a ready opponent for the top bad guy.
Many times when a young would-be martial artist has to train in order to defeat his foe he goes through a brief training, learns a deadly technique, then is off to avenge his master/friend/brother/etc. The training aspect of the movie tends to be abbreviated. In this gem of a movie the training phase took considerable time and I loved it.
Yes, we do want to see the protagonist eventually takedown the big boss but it has to have some credibility and some weight. How truly satisfying is that victory if he only trained for a little bit and then is able to be victorious? Even if the training wasn't short in movie time (meaning they condensed a year down to 15 minutes) it still feels less fulfilling. But, when that young man has trained for months or years on end and we get to see his growth and development through several stages, then that brings about a very satisfying win. And that's what we had here: much arduous training to make the protagonist into a ready opponent for the top bad guy.