獅 - Shi1 - Lion

南北獅王 - Nan2 Bei3 Shi1 Wang2 - North South Lion King, AKA Lion vs Lion or Roar Of The Lion

南北獅王 was tonight’s movie. It was great! Slightly slow in the middle and towards the end, but the conclusion MORE than made up for it. I’m going to talk about the ending, so if you don’t want it ruined stop reading now.

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This movie has a similar plot to lots of other old Chinese movies: A relative nobody gets all mixed up in the battle between the Qings and the loyalists of the old Ming dynasty. There’s always some list of rebels that must be prevented from falling into Qing hands, or a great hero who must be protected. The nobody is usually really really good at Kung Fu for some reason. There’s usually lots of twists and turns, plenty of double- and triple-crossing, bad guys pretending to be good, setbacks, etc. But in the end, the main guy is usually almost successful in what he has to do. Almost.

This movie was no exception. There are really two main guys, one who is honest and good at Kung Fu, and another guy who is more tricky. At first, the tricky guy is using the honest guy for personal gain. But later, they form a friendship. The good guy is somehow entrusted with this list of rebels that the Qings must not get. He hides it, and fights a million battles. In fact, they guy who he is supposed to deliver the list to turns out to be a Qing himself! But, the two guys figure this out, and preserve the list. While fighting the main bad guy, the one guy who is really good at Kung Fu dies. But the other guy escapes. As the good guy is dying, he tells the tricky guy where the list is hidden and who to give it to. The tricky guy makes this big long speech about how he never meant to hurt people with his tricks, he just needed money, but now he’s seen the light, he’s going to be honest and help his country by delivering the list.

The final scene of the movie takes no more than 10 seconds: He goes and gets the list, and is on his way to deliver it, when out of nowhere, the Qing army shows up! The general yells “NOBODY ESCAPES THE QINGS! FIRE ARROWS!” All the soldiers fire flaming arrows into this guy, and the last shot of the movie is him flying backwards, full of arrows, and on fire. Then it says “THE END”. Before he even hits the ground! I LOVE IT!