Popular reviews

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  Review by Gregor Kreyca ★★★★ 2

  The Invincible Fist is now officially the 50th movie I have seen from director Chang Cheh. (Please clap!) And I’m glad that there are still some hidden gems to discover for me in his filmography. Wonderfully shot, full of energetic and fierce swordplay action and a plot that was emotionally surprisingly engaging. The movie has a great (almost Chanbara like) atmosphere full of rain, fog and beautifully constructed Shaw Brothers sets. It is lit darker than the usual Shaw Brothers or Chang Cheh movie that that makes is stand out a little. The cast is also strong especially Lo Lieh in an early heroic leading part.

  The fight scenes might not be quite as fast and acrobatic as in Cheh’s…

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  Review by Kristof Szabó ★★★½

  Early, lesser known, but dark and atmospheric Chang Cheh/Shaw Brothers wuxia with Lo Lieh and his brothers hunting down a group of mass murdering thieves and that's about it. The narrative simplicity of being a straightfoward cat-and-mouse chase thriller allows Cheh to exercise a lot more visual storytelling and formal tricks to make it more interesting. The locations become an almost abstract plane of thick, head-high grass and maze-like forrests with soaking rain, nighttime dark where every corner has dozens of swordsmen leaping out to kill you. Fast-paced, often tense, loaded from back to front with claustrophobic, chaotic, breakneck action. Where Cheh's handheld camera becomes an active observer in the destruction. Its downbeat feel is only lessened by Li Ching's (quite frankly unnecessary) appearance as a kind, blind girl who gives the hero a chance at redemption. A rare merciful end for a director like Cheh.

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  Review by Dave Baxter ★★★★ 1

  CHANG CHEH FILMOGRAPHY #9/90

  The second of two films that Chang Cheh did with leading man Lo Lieh, this and "The Flying Dagger" mark the director's interim period between the Jimmy Wang Yu years and the upcoming legendary pairing of David Chiang and Ti Lung - a pairing that would run for SIX (count 'em!) years! But these Lo Lieh films are often ignored, and that's a mistake, because they're better than most of the Wang Yu films with the exception of the original One-Armed Swordsman.

  The events in THE INVINCIBLE FIST all take place in a single day and night and end on the following dawn. This is important to note to showcase how focused this movie is: Lo…

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  Review by comrade_yui ★★★

  i didn't think it was possible that you could use an abacus to kill someone, but hong kong cinema has once again shown me the way

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  Review by Audrey Karloff ★★★

  I liked the final battle. That it was between two men who had both already received serious, potentially mortal, wounds was interesting. More interesting were the weapons involved: a crutch vs. an umbrella. There was also rather more emotional weight to it than the Shaws sometimes have in their big showdown showstoppers. Also, a denouement, which is unusual for them but fits here. Lo Lieh is always worth a watch, but it's the last ten minutes of this that save it from being a forgettable, mid-level production. Which is to say, of course, that all I'll remember about it is the last ten minutes plus David Chiang's death (spoiler!), but that's enough.

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  Review by TheWickerMan ★★★★

  Enjoyable minimalist early film from Chang Cheh. It will quickly become clear to anyone who's seen the excellent Killer Constable (1980) that it was actually a remake of this, albeit one which expanded on the plot and is generally better all round, thanks to a larger budget.

  Still, there are plenty of unusual weapons in this one such as the projectile shooting "Golden Abacus" or the main villain's bladed umbrella which make it interesting enough, as well as some decent one-against-many fight scenes mainly featuring Lo Lieh or David Chiang. Worth a watch for any fans of early Cheh or Killer Constable.

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  Review by Niels Matthijs (Onderhond) ★★★

  A film that feels like it was directed by someone who finally established his blueprint and is running through the formula to tweak things here and there, hoping to push it a little further. The Invincible Fist is vintage Shaw Bros martial arts cinema, a pure genre film that doesn't surprise, but sells itself on execution.

  Lo Lieh is tasked with battling a criminal gang. Hoping to learn more about them, he infiltrates the gang. What he doesn't know is that they have moles too, and Lieh soon becomes their target. To make matters even more complex, Lieh falls in love with the blind daughter of the gang's boss.

  The film is nothing more than a bunch of familiar scenes…

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  Review by Wonggifs ★★★★½

  What a strange film. The opening half hour is unbelievably generic, even by Shaw Brothers's production line standards. Lo Lieh's lawman 'The Invincible Fist' is tracking 4 bandits with sidekick David Chiang in tow. The plot is hackneyed, the storytelling barely there, and even the action is so-so.

  This gives way to a terrific, atmospheric second act where Lo plays cat and mouse with the villain at an inn during a thunderstorm. There's a great fight scene with Chiang capping this all off, with the wild handheld camera and exciting swordplay that was typical of the era for the director.

  Then the film takes another left turn, into a sweet love story as Li Ching's appears as the blind daughter…

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  Review by Filmingeneral ★★★★½

  Dang! This is such an underrated film. Chang Cheh crafts one of his best with this really contained thriller set in the martial world. It’s unlike any other film from his that I’ve seen because the fights have this almost horror film like quality to it how it builds up tension and then ultimately pays off in an epic way.

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  Review by KaplanMacGuffin ★★★★

  Ambientação e desenvolvimento conciso, em poucos cenários e com trama decorrida em um único dia. Cheh consegue fazer muito com isso, com trama precisa, sem se alongar demais mas com bons acenos à tradição do gênero, com temas como honra, traição e amizade. Algumas boas cenas de luta, com armas fora do comum, como um ábaco e um guarda-chuva especiais. Excelentes presenças de David Chiang (ainda coadjuvante) e Lo Lieh.

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  Review by Filippo Paris ★★★

  Average over all but some very cool weapons in this

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  Review by Ian Whitney

  My favorite scene in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is the fight in the inn; it's not the fight that grabbed me, but the weapons weilded by the jianghu toughs challenging Jen Yu. Outside the somewhat standard collection of clubs, staffs and swords stood a man with an abacus at the ready.

  An abacus? How do you fight with an abacus?

  The bizarre and massive pantheon of Chinese weapons helps keep wuxia movies fresh. Instead of sword fight after sword fight, directors can pair up swords, abacuses, flying darts and deadly ropes -- and each man's choice of weapon offers a glimpse into his personality.

  The Invincible Fist furnishes a lot of creative weapons, including an abacus, and lots of manly…