REVIEW: Invincible Armour, The (1977)

After the success of The Secret Rivals 1 and 2, director Ng See-yuen took Tino Wong and his two star superkickers, Hwang Jang-lee and John Liu, and cast them in Invincible Armour, a more ambitious effort. The film boasts more elaborate sets and costumes, a Ming-era historical backdrop, and the expert choreography of Corey Yuen.

An assassin named Hu Lung (Lee Hoi-sang) murders a prominent Ming minister as part of a plot to overthrow the government. Official Chow Liu-fung (John Liu) is wrongly accused of the crime and escapes to find the killer and clear his name. Minister Chang (Hwang Jang-lee) sends his security chief Shen Yu (Tino Wong) to kill Chow. It turns out that Chang, an ambitious martial arts master, is behind the plot. He’s mastered Eagle Claw and the ‘Iron Armor’ which makes his body impervious to blows or bladed weapons, except at one weak point. His envious martial brother Hermit Tao (Phillip Ko) uses Hu Lung to lure him into a trap, resulting in a desperate fight between the two old masters. For a time, Chow stays with a brother and sister who teach him the Iron Finger, the only technique capable of defeating the Iron Armor. But the righteous Shen soon catches up with him and the two strike a deal to capture Hu Lung and discover the truth.

The leg fighting is toned down just a little from his previous collaborations with Liu and Jang-lee, but See-yuen maintains the same level of quality in the action. Corey Yuen and Yuen Biao, who both appeared as extras and doubles in The Secret Rivals 2 take over as action directors while making a couple of appearances onscreen along with Yuen Clan members Yuen Shun-yi and Yuen Cheung-yan. Anyone who pays any attention to kung fu movie makers should know that this assemblage of talent represents an all-star crew who has each excelled on their own. Not surprisingly, their combined efforts create a spectacular kung fu movie, made all the better since there is more of a story to house the action.

Of course, the cast cannot be discounted either. No one’s a great thespian, but John Liu is a terrific action lead with incredible dexterity and charisma who shines in his training sequences with a boy and in a number of fights. His stacked spinning kicks are phenomenal. It may be a disappointment to see Hwang Jang-lee curb his elaborate kicking in favor of sticking to Eagle Claw technique and internal kung fu represented in the Iron Armor. I would argue that Carter Wong performed a more enjoyable representation of internal kung fu in Born Invincible where he basically mastered the same Iron Armor technique. This is not the best film to show off Jang-lee’s screen fighting abilities, but he still makes a formidable opponent. A real highlight is seeing Jang-lee in white beard take on Phillip Ko in white beard. Both of these actors were often individually cast as white-haired villains and seeing them go at each other in the same movie is very nice. While not one of the more distinctive screen fighters, Tino Wong also delivers a strong performance. Special mention should go to Yuen Biao, not for his average character performances, but for his doubling which can be evidenced in the amount of excellent tumbling and flips seen throughout the film.

The most memorable aspect of Invincible Armour must be the multiple grabs for Jang-lee’s privates. No, there isn’t some sick and twisted perversity at work here. (Well, maybe in a humorous way.) Rather, it’s where his weak spot is. Yet he has the ability to draw his testicles in and it’s humorously shown by quickly inserting a reverse shot of two eggs flying up and out of reach of a hand. The testicles actually play a big part in internal kung fu lore. Jang-lee’s character has remained celibate throughout his life which supposedly keeps a martial artist from losing internal power and thus, his Iron Armor is “doubly strong.” Also, kung fu masters supposedly have the ability to reel in their privates, making the traditional weak spot for all men moot. This can be seen in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 when Uma Thurman kicks Gordon Liu as Pai Mei in the crotch to no effect. Yet, there’s always an effective countermove for everything in kung fu movies and Liu and Wong’s efforts to figure this all out makes the final fight in Invincible Armour quite entertaining.

Invincible Armour is an excellent kung fu classic and definitely recommended to even casual fans. Yet I still feel that most of the talent involved has done better work at one point or another, but not by much. Just having this all-star cast and crew involved is a kick. Rock solid kung fu action and the addition of familiar stock music and English-dubbed voices make this a reliable old schooler. It doesn’t push genre boundaries, but it’s always fun to watch.