I watched the English dubbed version released on Mei Ah dvd, and it leaves much to be desired. For starters, most reviewers appear to have missed that a great deal of the film is told in flashback... and this is not at all the fault of the viewer. Incredibly, the blurb on the dvd case also gets it wrong. Plus, I only figured it out after puzzling over several things that didn't make sense, and then watching portions of the film over again. Once you know, however... you know.
What we actually have here is a wraparound story in which Carter Wong plays a Prince who has had the deceased Emperor's Will altered in order to allow him to steal the throne from the rightful heir (presumably, his brother). Worse, he orders the other Prince to be tossed into a dungeon on trumped up charges to await sentencing. Unfortunately, the fate of the brother is left hanging, as he is never mentioned again.
Carter receives intelligence indicating that the monks at Shaolin are planning a revolt. He is counseled to send troops, but says that he will wait until the next day to make his decision.
THIS IS WHERE THE FLASHBACK BEGINS... it is signaled by a screen wipe and a glimpse of a bronze statue that we will see again in the next scene.
While strolling through the village, Carter encounters a monk selling small bronze statues of Shaolin fighters. He inquires about them and learns that students who graduate from Shaolin have a dragon tattoo on one of their arms. He buys one of these statues and thinks to himself: "Hmmmm... I should go to Shaolin to train there."
Carter goes to a cafe and witnesses a cocky and cute (though disguised as a man) Polly Shang-kuan cleverly kicking the crap out of several men. Carter decides he'll have a go at Polly too. The monk from before breaks it up.
Carter continues strolling and helps a pretty girl out of a jam. Smitten, he goes to visit her later, but she is with another man (Tien Peng, who starred with Carter in 18 BRONZEMEN), and this man appears to be good at kung fu. Carter challenges the man to a fight and loses to him, but not before noticing that he has a dragon tattoo on his arm. This, of course, reinforces his interest in studying at Shaolin.
Pretending to be a commoner, Carter goes to the Temple to become a student, but they won't even allow him inside the gate. Eventually, they agree to let him in, but won't allow him to become a student until he proves himself worthy. To do this, he is made to carry water in small buckets, medium buckets, large buckets, and then larger and larger and larger buckets. Also, large bundles of sticks. None of this seems to make any impression, but then he is witnessed eating 19 steamed buns (one more than the number of Bronzemen... coincidence?), and suddenly... he is told that he has been deemed ready.
Where other monks train for 10 years of more before asking to be allowed to challenge the 18 levels of Bronzemen tests, Carter believes he's ready almost immediately. He tries and fails over and over again. Among his challenges are Single Finger Fu, Coin Toss Fu and - in the end - Completus Interuptus Fu! FU THAT, I say!
WE THEN FLASH FORWARD.
Carter is Emperor and his 2nd day on the job begins with Polly Shang-kuan (this time identifying as a woman) trying to kill him in order to get revenge for the murder of her father, a General that we have not seen nor heard anything about. This is probably a reference to a historical occurrence, though it could also be a case of the dubbing simply being incorrect in ID'ing the murdered man as a General (Carter did murder someone in one of the opening scenes, but that person did not appear to be a General).
Carter next receives updated intelligence regarding Shaolin. The monks there have been ordered to attack! Carter asks his court for opinions, learns of a new weapon that can destroy the monks, and orders many of these weapons to be made.
One might expect there to then be a final act in which his forces attack Shaolin, but nope... the movie very abruptly ends there as if it's part one of a two parter. That's unfortunate, had there been more of an ending, and had the flashback been clear, I'd have enjoyed this far more than I did. As is, I'd say it's more fun than 18 BRONZEMEN, but not nearly as fun as one of its two follow-ups, THE EIGHT MASTERS (I've yet to see the BLAZING TEMPLE, the film that came between RETURN and EIGHT. I've read enough about it, however, to know that - as with the other three films - there are no reoccurring characters... just reoccurring cast members).
What we actually have here is a wraparound story in which Carter Wong plays a Prince who has had the deceased Emperor's Will altered in order to allow him to steal the throne from the rightful heir (presumably, his brother). Worse, he orders the other Prince to be tossed into a dungeon on trumped up charges to await sentencing. Unfortunately, the fate of the brother is left hanging, as he is never mentioned again.
Carter receives intelligence indicating that the monks at Shaolin are planning a revolt. He is counseled to send troops, but says that he will wait until the next day to make his decision.
THIS IS WHERE THE FLASHBACK BEGINS... it is signaled by a screen wipe and a glimpse of a bronze statue that we will see again in the next scene.
While strolling through the village, Carter encounters a monk selling small bronze statues of Shaolin fighters. He inquires about them and learns that students who graduate from Shaolin have a dragon tattoo on one of their arms. He buys one of these statues and thinks to himself: "Hmmmm... I should go to Shaolin to train there."
Carter goes to a cafe and witnesses a cocky and cute (though disguised as a man) Polly Shang-kuan cleverly kicking the crap out of several men. Carter decides he'll have a go at Polly too. The monk from before breaks it up.
Carter continues strolling and helps a pretty girl out of a jam. Smitten, he goes to visit her later, but she is with another man (Tien Peng, who starred with Carter in 18 BRONZEMEN), and this man appears to be good at kung fu. Carter challenges the man to a fight and loses to him, but not before noticing that he has a dragon tattoo on his arm. This, of course, reinforces his interest in studying at Shaolin.
Pretending to be a commoner, Carter goes to the Temple to become a student, but they won't even allow him inside the gate. Eventually, they agree to let him in, but won't allow him to become a student until he proves himself worthy. To do this, he is made to carry water in small buckets, medium buckets, large buckets, and then larger and larger and larger buckets. Also, large bundles of sticks. None of this seems to make any impression, but then he is witnessed eating 19 steamed buns (one more than the number of Bronzemen... coincidence?), and suddenly... he is told that he has been deemed ready.
Where other monks train for 10 years of more before asking to be allowed to challenge the 18 levels of Bronzemen tests, Carter believes he's ready almost immediately. He tries and fails over and over again. Among his challenges are Single Finger Fu, Coin Toss Fu and - in the end - Completus Interuptus Fu! FU THAT, I say!
WE THEN FLASH FORWARD.
Carter is Emperor and his 2nd day on the job begins with Polly Shang-kuan (this time identifying as a woman) trying to kill him in order to get revenge for the murder of her father, a General that we have not seen nor heard anything about. This is probably a reference to a historical occurrence, though it could also be a case of the dubbing simply being incorrect in ID'ing the murdered man as a General (Carter did murder someone in one of the opening scenes, but that person did not appear to be a General).
Carter next receives updated intelligence regarding Shaolin. The monks there have been ordered to attack! Carter asks his court for opinions, learns of a new weapon that can destroy the monks, and orders many of these weapons to be made.
One might expect there to then be a final act in which his forces attack Shaolin, but nope... the movie very abruptly ends there as if it's part one of a two parter. That's unfortunate, had there been more of an ending, and had the flashback been clear, I'd have enjoyed this far more than I did. As is, I'd say it's more fun than 18 BRONZEMEN, but not nearly as fun as one of its two follow-ups, THE EIGHT MASTERS (I've yet to see the BLAZING TEMPLE, the film that came between RETURN and EIGHT. I've read enough about it, however, to know that - as with the other three films - there are no reoccurring characters... just reoccurring cast members).