The Invincible Armour (1977)

I love this movie so much

Truly Dreadful Film

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Invincible armor is totally old school kung-fu action film, but seems to attract many loyal fans. The title invincible armor comes from the main antagonist being a master of hard chi-kung can transform his body into indestructible armor (there are many martial artists who still practice this style in China. They demonstrate this by bending a spear with its tip on their throat). The protagonist practice one style that can penetrate this armor, but there's a twist. Body must be struck in certain sequence in order to defeat the armor. In this sense, the antagonist is bit like Bai Mei in the Executioners from Shaolin. The old school part is that one fight scene follows another with little or no story going. Why they have to fight so much, I have no idea. Then it comes to the final show down, and ouch ! the end happens in a very painful way. You have to see it to appreciate it.I would have like to seen more story than fighting, but that's my preference. It's a classic kung- fu movie format, and is one of the better produced movie of its kind. See it for the fight scenes.

This is the Longest Day of Kung Fu movies with Ng See Yuen using some of the top stars of the time in a film that obviously had some money spent on it - the costumes and (Korean) sets are really rather good. He seems to have been trying to recreate the success of his Secret Rivals with stars Hwang Jang Lee, Philip Ko and John Liu all appearing and Tino Wong in a major role. This is helped by Yuen Biao doing many of the stunts and appearing in a (short) fight. Unfortunately the story isn't bad but not brilliant (with rather a cowboy type theme) and John Liu though a brilliant fighter thinks acting consists of a slow smile and a nice character. Tino Wong does his best but is not an absolute top notch fighter and the brilliant Hwang Jang Lee does little kicking, though much protection of his private parts, using Eagle Claw techniques. Philip Ko is heavily disguised but very good as the brother of Hwang, but their fight is rather constrained and doesn't really show their abilities. The final fight against Hwang by John Liu and Tino Wong is reasonable but not outstanding. Watch for the story and the reasonable fights but this could have been better and somehow (like the Longest Day) the sum of the parts doesn't quite add up to a first rate film.

Those elaborate, Shaw Brothers-style period costumes just don't work against a Poverty Row background like the one we see in "Invincible Armor", but hell...why quibble? Hwang Jang Lee and John Liu, two of the top three kickers in the business (the third being Delon Tam, Liu's instructor), tear up the screen in this film and that's what counts. My only complaint about the fight scenes is that there were too many distracting, split-second shots of shattered eggs every time someone attacked what they thought was Hwang's vulnerable point (his testicles, naturally). Just concentrate on the action, guys, please! Otherwise, this is a fun, straightforward flick that you'll enjoy if Hong Kong kung fu cinema is your thing.

hwang yang yee plays three parts in this film, and is put up against another of the kung fu film industries best kickers, john liu. the film is noteable for having a plot (other than 'oi you, didnt you kill my brother') but the scenes are only good when liu is doling out punishment to assorted bystanders. nevertheless, this is one of the few kung fu flicks i would recommend to non-afficionados.