Shaolin Wooden Men

The narrative of "Shaolin Wooden Men" is divided into two neat halves: the first delineates the struggles of Jackie Chan's character (a mute orphan) at Shaolin Temple, ending with his successful navigation of the gauntlet of titular wooden men; the second follows him into the world outside the monastery, as he tests his combat skills and discovers that people cannot always be taken at face value. The film never rises entirely above the conventions of its genre, but in depicting the friendship between Chan and Kam Kang (who plays a prisoner at the monastery), director Chen Chi-hwa effects some nice touches...and there are well-choreographed fights aplenty. Six and a half stars.

(By the way, there's no historical evidence that those fearsome wooden fighting dummies ever existed at Shaolin. It's a great cinematic device, though.)