Watch the full series of "Three Visits to Shaolin" online for free.
Director Tang Jia was a renowned martial arts choreographer during the Shaw Brothers era, known alongside Lau Kar-leung and others. For years, he designed action sequences for Chang Cheh's masculine wuxia films ("The Golden Swallow", "Three Outlaws"), Hsu Tseng-hung's dramatic action films ("Mysterious Heroes of the Rivers and Lakes"), and Chu Yuan's Gu Long wuxia films. In particular, Tang Jia's design for the final duel in Chu Yuan's masterpiece "Swordsman III: Three Times Winner" was especially brilliant, with an intense atmosphere and skillful swordsmanship. In "Three Visits to Shaolin", Tang Jia focused on designing fight scenes. The "Great Saber Formation", "Twelve Vajra Formation", and "Bench Formation" he co-designed with the screenwriter were ingenious, vividly portrayed by wuxia star Nicholas Tse, stirring the heart. Despite Tang Jia's high level of expertise in action design, to make the film as perfect as possible, he specially invited six martial arts directors to collaborate on the choreography. The speed and difficulty of the actions were breathtaking. However, the storyline of the film followed a common pattern in wuxia films, and the character development was somewhat shallow, preventing the film from reaching greater heights.
Introduction to the plot on Kankemedia.com: One of the four major clans, the master of Jinhu Fort, was ambushed and killed by four masked monks while escorting a convoy. Ye Qinghua (played by Liu Yupu) is suspected of being involved in this case. The wandering knight Lei Xun (played by Nicholas Tse) firmly believes that his friend is innocent, so he decides to clear his name. This leads him into a shocking mystery that stuns the martial world. Following the clue that the murderer is a monk, Lei Xun makes three visits to Shaolin, finding the four monks who publicly confess their crimes. Lei Xun and Ye Qinghua think the truth has been revealed. Unexpectedly, soon after, rumors spread throughout the jianghu about these four monks wearing masks and committing further atrocities. Lei Xun realizes he has been used, and thus resolves to uncover the true identity of the mastermind at any cost.