Born Invincible

This is one of the rare kungfu movies ever made in Hong Kong. Nothing is boring here : interesting script, direct and efficient scenery, good acting. But what makes this movie so good is the fightscenes that are inventively and beautifully choreographed. Not only it's very good but it's also very hard-to-find. Dammage.

Joseph Kuo has made a brilliant movie because the antagonist, the Chi Kung super villain, is such a good caracter. Carter Wong looks a bit like the icelandic world strongest man champion, Magnus ver Magnusson, but thats the only similarity. He is a killing machine, and there is nothing to be done to stop him. And that will be his demise. He is too evil for this world, and being a Chi Kung master, he should have evolved beyond blood lust. When Wong is asked by his female master to spare Lo Leihs life, Joseph Kuo shows signs of genius. The arch villain has a human side, but is is as repressed as that of Patrick Bateman in American Psycho.

But more than just a super villain, Born Invinsible has a great cast of protagonists. The confidence and skill of Jack Long makes the deadly fights even more dramatic. And can there be a sexier woman than Lo Leih telling Carter Wong to go to hell?

A very arrogant white haired Thai Chi martial artist ( a formidable looking Carter Wong who has a strange falsetto voice in the English-dubbed version. Imagine Tiny Tim saying, "I am going to kill you this time") and two of his cronies wreaks havoc in a small village, terrorizing people and their families. Three local heroes team up to defeat the villainous three, but they have to find a secret weak point, which the Thai Chi master can choose and change at will.

What you get here is wall to wall Kung fu fighting and it's very impressive, especially the sword and weapon usage, however, there's too much Kung fu and because of it the narrative suffers slightly, plus the protagonists lack charisma or look too much alike, especially in contrast to Carter Wong and Lo Lieh, who are the formidable bad guys, and apparently invincible. Well, Carter Wong's character is. But it's still watchable and passes the time well, and makes a change from having just one hero train throughout the film and beat the villain. Here you have different students trying their hand in beating the villain.. The finale is satisfactory with a killer fight, where the heroes have the last laugh.

In the late 70s and early 80s as a kung fu fan you were sure of one

thing, lots of kung fu movies - most of them were bad, but some held the

same mythology that if you trained hard enough and knew every secret

there was you'd become invincible. This idea sporned the White Haired

supervillians that would become to showcase kung fu movies. Impossible

to beat, super-tough villians that would sometimes steal the show. The

more white hair, the more powerful they were.

In this movie the real star is the bad guy as we see him kill all those

who stand in his way. Excellent kung fu duels are plenty in this film,

though the ending is a bit silly.

I'd love a redux of this movie for the 21st century - but it'll never

happen - instead enjoy kung fu mastery of the white haired kind in this

movie.

Ove

Carter Wong grows a pair of white eyebrows and becomes the most iconic villain of all martial arts movies – the invulnerable white eyebrows character. I have been watching every martial arts movie ever made in chronological order from 1967 and my first notice of a white eyebrows villain was in 1968 in "The Swordsman of All Swordsmen". More famous invulnerable white eyebrows villains include Hwang Jang Lee and Lo Lieh. The rules of the villain also state that he does have one vulnerable spot that he can move around by will according to the time of day. This superpower is associated with a martial arts practice called Taiji Qigong that is an advanced part of the popular kung fu style usually referred to as Tai Chi in the East. None of the fights show real Tai Chi. Technically, a lot more is lost in the translation. The English dub oversimplifies the line "You must strike when he is not himself." The ability to shift one's vulnerable spot is always associated with the time of day. In the movie the shadow of the sword is shown to represent that factor. When he is not himself is not really when he is laughing. Every villain has that same laugh. A more accurate translation would be along the line of "You must strike when he does something a Qigong practitioner would never do – display overconfidence." As a practicing martial artist for most of my life I tend to notice details like this and they usually don't take any enjoyment away from the typical audience. Another thing I have over thought about the invulnerable villain is why no one ever thinks of dropping a net over him. Also the villain acts just like Superman in the old TV series when he stands tall to deflect bullets but then ducks when the empty gun is thrown at him. If he was really invulnerable he would not have to block or avoid any weapon or blow, he could just attack and nothing else. Nobody wants to see that fight choreography though so I will stop now. Many other reviewers have called this the best martial arts movie they have ever seen. I'm happy to read that but I encourage them to see more. I respect your opinion but there are many more movies out there and I am sure you will find other movies that are better.