Despite its late arrival, this can still be considered a classic Shaw Brothers movie and has remained much-loved by fans since its first release. Although there's a lowered budget – somehow, the sets aren't so impressive this time around – the film still offers solid, sometimes fantastic martial arts bouts and plenty of action to keep it moving nicely along. My only complaint is with the costumes, which thanks to the low budget now look rather tawdry and poor. I mean, some of the bad guys wear leopard skins and others wear Santa Claus costumes!
As is typical for the genre, the story is nothing special but provides a nice basis for the action. The opening sequence is a confusing massacre with some really violent action in it, including a man scalped and a guy turned into a pin cushion with about two dozen arrows. From then on the film mainly charts the course of lead Gordon Liu, as he seeks solitude in a Shaolin temple and comes up against some monks who teach him the ways of wooden pole fighting. The fights are hard and fast, and include some imaginative scenes in which full-size wooden wolves are used as training devices! Liu is excellent as the lead and brings sympathy to his character despite the usual dodgy dubbing, and his scenes contrast nicely with his only other surviving brother, now turned mad.
The film piles on the action with a series of minor characters (the farmer, the monk) heroically dying after facing off against tons of enemies, my favourite when a guy pulls a wall down on top of the opposition and himself. There are some strong female characters in the forms of Liu's shapely sisters who show off some mean martial arts abilities. Any fan of the Shaw Brothers will be expecting a gruesome finale and THE INVINCIBLE POLE FIGHTERS delivers on all accounts in this respect. The main bad guy gets his face shredded and smashed through a coffin, and another theme seems to be teeth-pulling as most of the villains find their gobs smashed and their teeth flying all over the place! Bloody brilliant stuff and a terrific finale to the film. Any martial arts fan should check this film out immediately just to watch the classic action, endless pole fighting and superhuman manoeuvres.
As is typical for the genre, the story is nothing special but provides a nice basis for the action. The opening sequence is a confusing massacre with some really violent action in it, including a man scalped and a guy turned into a pin cushion with about two dozen arrows. From then on the film mainly charts the course of lead Gordon Liu, as he seeks solitude in a Shaolin temple and comes up against some monks who teach him the ways of wooden pole fighting. The fights are hard and fast, and include some imaginative scenes in which full-size wooden wolves are used as training devices! Liu is excellent as the lead and brings sympathy to his character despite the usual dodgy dubbing, and his scenes contrast nicely with his only other surviving brother, now turned mad.
The film piles on the action with a series of minor characters (the farmer, the monk) heroically dying after facing off against tons of enemies, my favourite when a guy pulls a wall down on top of the opposition and himself. There are some strong female characters in the forms of Liu's shapely sisters who show off some mean martial arts abilities. Any fan of the Shaw Brothers will be expecting a gruesome finale and THE INVINCIBLE POLE FIGHTERS delivers on all accounts in this respect. The main bad guy gets his face shredded and smashed through a coffin, and another theme seems to be teeth-pulling as most of the villains find their gobs smashed and their teeth flying all over the place! Bloody brilliant stuff and a terrific finale to the film. Any martial arts fan should check this film out immediately just to watch the classic action, endless pole fighting and superhuman manoeuvres.