Rising Shaolin: The Protector is available in the FLC Virtual Cinema beginning August 19. Get tickets here.

This refreshingly spirited homage to kung fu films of yore belies the conceits of the digital age, while paying special tribute to Jet Li’s 1982 watershed The Shaolin Temple. While it still looks contemporary, Rising Shaolin blends “now” with “then” to produce a rousing spectacle of martial-arts fury with a perennial moral of might for right. Star Wang Baoqiang (Detective Chinatown), both a cutup and a dedicated martial artist, throws irreverent comedy and kinetic action into a highly entertaining mix of slapstick, pathos, and unbridled adventure. It’s a hero’s journey of redemption paved with violence, featuring choreography reminiscent of the kung fu greats.