Shaolin Soccer is a 2001 Hong Kong martial arts comedy film co-written, directed by Stephen Chow, who also stars in the lead role. A former Shaolin monk reunites his five brothers, years after their master's death, to apply their superhuman martial arts skills to play soccer and bring Shaolin kung fu to the masses.
Plot
Sing (Stephen Chow) is a master of Shaolin kung fu, whose goal in life is to promote the spiritual and practical benefits of the art to modern society. He experiments with various methods, but none bear positive results. He then meets "Golden Leg" Fung (Ng Man Tat), a legendary Hong Kong soccer star in his day, who is now walking with a limp, following the treachery of a former teammate Hung, now a rich businessman.
Sing explains his desires to Fung who offers his services to coach Sing in soccer. Sing is compelled by the idea of promoting kung fu through soccer and agrees to enlist his former Shaolin brothers to form a team under Fung's management. Sing and Fung attempt to put together an unbeatable soccer team. Fung invites a vicious team (some of which Sing previously encountered) to play against them and the thugs proceed to give the Shaolin team a brutal beating. When all seems lost, the Shaolin disciples reawaken and utilise their special powers, dismantling the other team's rough play easily. The thugs then give up, and ask to join Sing's team.
Sing meets Mui (Zhao Wei), a baker with severe acne who uses T'ai chi to bake and even takes her to look at very expensive dresses at a high-end department store after hours. She soon forms an attachment to Sing and even gets a makeover in an attempt to impress Sing. However, this backfires and when Mui reveals her feelings to him, he tells her he only wants to be her friend. This revelation, coupled with the constant bullying from her overbearing boss, leads Mui to disappear.
In his final attack, Team Evil's striker leaps into the sky and turns the ball into a glowing orb. When he kicks the fiery ball towards Mui, she and Sing combine their martial skills and rocket the ball down field, which tears the ground and sucks up everything in its path. The ball plows through Team Evil's goal post and destroys half of the stadium. Sing is then thrown into the air in celebration as the trophy is presented to him and his team.Team Shaolin enters the open cup competition in Hong Kong, where they chalk up successive and often ridiculous one-sided victories. They end up meeting 'Team Evil in the final. Team Evil, helmed by none other than Fung's old nemesis, Hung, who assembled a squad of players who have been injected with an American drug, granting them superhuman strength and speed, making them practically invincible. Team Shaolin, which had steamrolled their earlier opponents, are brought back to reality when Team Evil's amazing capabilities prove more than a match for them. At a critical moment, Mui, who has shaved her hair and gotten rid of her acne, reappears to keep goal for Team Shaolin.
A newspaper article then shows Hung being stripped of his title of soccer chairman and sent to jail for five years, while Team Evil players are permanently banned from playing soccer professionally. With people all over the world practicing kung fu in their daily lives, Sing's dream is finally fulfilled; and Sing and Mui also become a famous kung fu couple.
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