Bullet Points: Invincible Shaolin
Arrow Video is releasing a third volume of their popular Shawscope limited edition Blu-ray box sets on November 26th. When that news first broke, I did not immediately hit the PRE-ORDER button (as I had done for Volumes 1 and 2) for two very good reasons. First, was my poor wallet and second, was the fact that there were still a handful of movies from the first two sets that I had not gotten to yet, so the last thing I needed was more Shaw classics to muddy the waters.
One of the movies that I had not watched yet is the subject of this edition of Bullet Points, 1978’s Invincible Shaolin…
- North & South, Book 1: As the movie begins three martial arts experts, representing Northern Shaolin, are summoned to meet the Qing’s General Pu (Johnny Wang, Mercenaries from Hong Kong). General Pu wants the three men to test their skills against the three experts from Southern Shaolin that he already had in place to train his Manchu soldiers. Having grown up a wrestling fan, I knew the fact that the Southern Shaolin representatives not getting a big intro did not bode well for them, especially since The Northern Shaolin guys did get big introductions and a chance to show off their areas of expertise… first up is Bao Shanxiong (Lu Feng, Crippled Avengers) and his Vajra Palm technique… then there’s Xu Fang (Sun Chien, Chinatown Kid) and his Cyclone Kick… and lastly is the Butterfly Pole expert, Yang Zhongfei (Chiang Sheng, The Magnificent Ruffians). The North kicks the South’s ass and the Southern trio soon find themselves packing their bags. Their plan is to return to the Southern Shaolin Temple, but General Pu has another plan for them… DEATH! Pu caves in all three men’s chests. Pu has his right hand stooge, Hua, take the bodies back to the Southern Shaolin Temple and tell Master Mai Qi that his students were killed by the Northern Shaolin guys sowing the seeds of dissension in the Shaolin Temple!
- North & South, Book 2: Pu’s plan works to perfection, three more of Master Mai Qi’s students go to General Pu’s compound to challenge the men they believe killed their fellow students… and this is no friendly competition, they are looking to take out Bao, Xu and Yang and this forces the Northern trio to defend themselves and once again, the North comes out victorious and the South finds themselves with more bodies to bury. At this point, Master Mai Qi shuts his school down and forbids any of his students from seeking revenge against Northern Shaolin… if they are going to beat Northern Shaolin, they are going to need a plan and time to train. Master Mai Qi has the plan, he has his son, Mai Feng (Wai Pak, The Five Venoms) to go and train with The Gardner and learn the Wing Chun style to combat the Cyclone Kick… Master Mai Qi also sends word to two of his senior students to return. He Wingyu (Phillip Kwok, The Brave Archer) will train with Master Mai Qi himself to learn how to counter the Butterfly Pole. And Zhang Cheng (Lo Mang, The Kid with the Golden Arm) will train with the Woodsman to learn Mantis style to counter the Vajra Palm.
- Training, Training, Training: I would say a third of Invincible Shaolin is devoted to training sequences and I am here for it… Mai Feng learns that when you train with The Gardner and you fall in the garden, you have to plant new plants… Zhang Cheng learns that when you train with The Woodsman, you have to eat the eggs you break… And He Wingyu learns that Master Mai Qi has an endless supply of iron ring ankle weights. If I had to pick a favorite bit in all of the training it would be The Gardner’s pavilion that Mai Feng has to fight his way out of time and time again… While the Southern guys are learning new skills, the Northern guys are falling in love. Bao and Yang start courting some fruit peddlers, while Xu and a maid at General Pu’s mansion really hit it off. And it is Xu’s romance that General Pu uses to set the trap for the Shaolin factions… making it appear that Xu was marrying into a Qing family and betraying his Shaolin roots.
- The Pu Hits the Fan: It should be noted that Xu Fang and He Wingyu both question this Shaolin “rivalry”. But there’s no way cooler heads were going to prevail after this final North vs. South battle had been built up so big over the course of the movie. The six Shaolin men pair off and do battle on General Pu’s compound, which means three fantastic match ups… at some point they do come to the realization that it was in fact General Pu that started this shit, but Pu was prepared for this possibility and had his troops on stand by. The action and the violence then escalates and if I had to describe the finale in two words they would be bloody good!
The Venoms really were magic together and I can understand why Shaw Brothers kept putting this amazing ensemble together in movie after movie. It didn’t hurt that director Chang Cheh was at the helm once again either… he’s an absolute legend in his own right.
Invincible Shaolin is not going to knock off Crippled Avengers from the top spot of my favorite Venom Mob movies, but it delivered and then some. Now allow me to deliver some Bonus Bullet Points…
- AKA: Invincible Shaolin is also known as The Unbeatable Dragon.
- Bastard Count: I have one small complaint to register in regards to Invincible Shaolin. Nobody said “bastard” during the entire movie. C’mon guys!
- If You Ever: …wanted to witness someone demand that Lo Mang take his pants off, then Invincible Shaolin is the movie for you.
- One Question: I wonder if the Woodsman knew Shelana, the woods temptress?
