The Shaolin Avengers

Alexander Fu Sheng plays an invulnerable Fong Sai Yuk in this movie. The concept of an invulnerable martial artist has been around almost as long as martial arts. Martial arts training certainly improves many physical traits. The cardiopulmonary or aerobic aspect of training enables the fighter to fight long and hard without losing breath. The martial artist's bone density improves so the fighter is less fragile to fractures. The stretching and flexibility of the fighter can also make injuries less likely. No amount of martial arts training will ever make a person invulnerable to blades and bullets. Yet the audience sometimes forgets all this or maybe just likes to pretend.

Liu Chia-Liang started in the movie business in 1953. He was a true martial artist with ties to Wong Fei-Hung. I consider him the greatest person in the history of martial arts movies. As an action director his job was to make actors with no experience fighting look like fight experts. As the film rolled and the actors fought everything about the fight was fake. They seemed to connect with the hits yet they widely missed because it was faked by the camera angle. The sharp, shiny metal swords were fake plastic. The entire actor could be faked by a stunt double. One thing Liu Chia-Liang never faked was invulnerability.

In 1975 Liu Chia-Liang directed an entire movie for the first time, "The Spiritual Boxer". The main story was about people who faked martial arts abilities, specifically invulnerability. Liu Chia-Liang was in a strange position where he had real fighting abilities and had to fake those abilities for others. He did this best job ever but there was a line he never crossed.

This movie is a mess. The story keeps going back and forth in time and is hard to follow. There is no clear hero or villain. The characters are identical except for the single fighting ability that makes a difference. Despite the flaws the action sequences are superb. Because of that I must rate it above average for the year and genre but I only recommend it for fans.