User reviews

Carter Wong grows a pair of white eyebrows and becomes the most iconic villain of all martial arts movies – the invulnerable white eyebrows character. I have been watching every martial arts movie ever made in chronological order from 1967 and my first notice of a white eyebrows villain was in 1968 in "The Swordsman of All Swordsmen". More famous invulnerable white eyebrows villains include Hwang Jang Lee and Lo Lieh. The rules of the villain also state that he does have one vulnerable spot that he can move around by will according to the time of day. This superpower is associated with a martial arts practice called Taiji Qigong that is an advanced part of the popular kung fu style usually referred to as Tai Chi in the East. None of the fights show real Tai Chi. Technically, a lot more is lost in the translation. The English dub oversimplifies the line "You must strike when he is not himself." The ability to shift one's vulnerable spot is always associated with the time of day. In the movie the shadow of the sword is shown to represent that factor. When he is not himself is not really when he is laughing. Every villain has that same laugh. A more accurate translation would be along the line of "You must strike when he does something a Qigong practitioner would never do – display overconfidence." As a practicing martial artist for most of my life I tend to notice details like this and they usually don't take any enjoyment away from the typical audience. Another thing I have over thought about the invulnerable villain is why no one ever thinks of dropping a net over him. Also the villain acts just like Superman in the old TV series when he stands tall to deflect bullets but then ducks when the empty gun is thrown at him. If he was really invulnerable he would not have to block or avoid any weapon or blow, he could just attack and nothing else. Nobody wants to see that fight choreography though so I will stop now. Many other reviewers have called this the best martial arts movie they have ever seen. I'm happy to read that but I encourage them to see more. I respect your opinion but there are many more movies out there and I am sure you will find other movies that are better.

A very arrogant white haired Thai Chi martial artist ( a formidable looking Carter Wong who has a strange falsetto voice in the English-dubbed version. Imagine Tiny Tim saying, "I am going to kill you this time") and two of his cronies wreaks havoc in a small village, terrorizing people and their families. Three local heroes team up to defeat the villainous three, but they have to find a secret weak point, which the Thai Chi master can choose and change at will.

What you get here is wall to wall Kung fu fighting and it's very impressive, especially the sword and weapon usage, however, there's too much Kung fu and because of it the narrative suffers slightly, plus the protagonists lack charisma or look too much alike, especially in contrast to Carter Wong and Lo Lieh, who are the formidable bad guys, and apparently invincible. Well, Carter Wong's character is. But it's still watchable and passes the time well, and makes a change from having just one hero train throughout the film and beat the villain. Here you have different students trying their hand in beating the villain.. The finale is satisfactory with a killer fight, where the heroes have the last laugh.

While most of the stars of this movie are quite forgettable, two stand out: Carter Wong and Lo Lieh. Together, they are two nearly invincible killers filled to the brim with gongfu power.

This is without a doubt one of CW's best, if not his all-time best film. He plays a white-haired master of taijiquan (hence the actual name, tai ji qi gong) who has trained since the age of 5 in this mystic art and is truly invincible -- except for his one weak point.

A classic "revenge for wronged school/slain master" plot makes this film move solidly through its paces. Lo Lieh is terrific as a baton wielding parter to Carter Wong. Basically the young students of a gongfu school train hard to take revenge on the pair for slaying their master. But it's not as easy as it first seems.

This movie has quite a few training scenes, all of them terrific, with some quite awesome schticks developed. The dubbing detracts not at all from the film, as the voice-over man perfectly reduplicates the squeaky voice that CW speaks in (due to his powers -- explained in the film). While CW's gongfu is not as good in this movie as in others, say, like Invisible Terrorist, he still keeps it up, and besides, why learn how to fight when no one can hurt you? The rest of the cast make up for it in spades.

This movie is worth buying if you love 70's gongfu movies, even non Shaw Bros. ones.

This is one of the rare kungfu movies ever made in Hong Kong. Nothing is boring here : interesting script, direct and efficient scenery, good acting. But what makes this movie so good is the fightscenes that are inventively and beautifully choreographed. Not only it's very good but it's also very hard-to-find. Dammage.

This is one of the best kung-fu films I have seen. The originality, which is common in kung-fu films, is astounding. The characters are great; Carter Wong is awesome as the villain. A classic kung-fu film.

This is one of the rare kungfu movies ever made in Hong Kong. Nothing is boring here : interesting script, direct and efficient scenery, good acting. But what makes this movie so good is the fight scenes that are inventively and beautifully choreographed. Not only it's very good but it's also very hard-to-find. Dammage.

Born Invincible was the first martial arts film I have ever seen. It has been 16 years ago since I saw it. When I was browsing a DVD sellpoint I noticed they had Born Invincible on DVD. Needless to say that I immediately ordered it because I was curious to see whether it's still good. And yes, it's still that good. The dubbing of the movie is very bad if I look at it realistically but it is very funny. Carter Hwang and his bad guy partner in crime really have ridiculous voices that don't fit with the persons they are portraying. Very cool. The action in the movie is really great. Carter Hwang is really good as the bad guy. He kicks some serious you know what. Sometimes I wonder whether the makers of Terminator looked at Carter Hwang because Carter Hwang really reminds me of the Terminator in the sense that he is nearly unstoppable. If you want a classic Hong Kong movie with great action then Born Invincible is the movie for you. As far as I am concerned the movie stands out among a lot of Hong Kong movies released between 1974 and 1984.

This was the first Kungfu movie I ever purchased, as I was drawn to the cover and storyline. When I first watched it, I was in awe. It was probably one of the few films I watched 2 times in a row in one evening. This film features some of the best fight sequences in any kungfu film. They are fast and creative. Carter Wong does a perfect job as the white haired Chi Kung master who is impervious to all attacks except for in his throat (note: this concept has been done in many other kungfu films, but never was pulled off this well). Lo Lieh is also great as Wong's sidekick with the golden tonfa (one of the coolest weapons in any kungfu movie, it has a blade that shoots out of it so it can be used as a sword and it has a clamp that rips swords). Although the story is fairly basic, we get nearly non stop action from one fight ot another. A true masterpiece in all aspects, and essential for all hong kong film fans.

Born Invincible is a great kung fu flick, very fast paced with incredible fight sequences choreographed by the legendary Yuen Woo Ping. This stars Carter Wong and Lo Lieh as a pair of evil kung fu supervillains that are more or less indestructible that track down an old master and kill the sifu at a kung fu school. The surviving members of the school plot revenge and the rest of the film is packed to the hilt with tons of action and training sequences. If you are a fan of the genre, Born Invincible delivers the goods and will leave fans nothing to complain about. I am very impressed with Born Invincible and highly recommend checking this out.

Basically there was this guy trained in Tai chi since he was a kid (hence `Born Invincible'). The whole plot of the movie is just about some kung-fu school figuring out how to kill this guy in order to keep their school's honor. The movie manages to keep you sitting through the whole thing. I usually get bored by real bad kung-fu films and then fast-forward to the fights to wake myself up, but this was intriguing enough to pay attention to.

It all started when some students tried to help an old man getting beaten by the villain's henchmen. This then establishes the years long feud. Eventually, the henchmen are killed until there's a final showdown with the main villain of the film. And they're ready to exploit his weakness, which the movie took some time to figure out.

The kung fu here has lots of fancy flips and jumps (villains finishing move is a jump-flip head-butt). This isn't some goofball kung fu although the movie is pretty hilarious cause of the cliché bad guy and Asian people fighting for honor as if they'd die without it.

I'm looking a bit too deep here, but the best thing about this film is it questioned whether it's right if the good guys cheat in fights for justice. The dubbing is hilarious and over the top like in all horribly brilliant kung-fu films. Good film to watch every now and then to see some ideal kung fu fighting. 9/10

Yeun Woo-Ping inspired movie madness. This film, especially its R2 DVD English dubbed version, is the funniest kung-fu movie I've ever had the pleasure of watching. Do not take this film seriously as it certainly doesn't.

Plot revolves around an evil falsatto shaolin master who has the ability to contro his 'invincible armour' by locating his weak spot in a certain part of the body. It's simply ridiculous... One of the most amusing demonstrations of the ivincible armour includes someone jumping from the second storey of a building directly onto the stomach of a super hard dude...

You must see this...

Supervillains in Kung Fu movies are invaribly the coolest parts of the genre, because they are nearly always impervious and superior, both in intelligence and fighting ability, to anyone else. Their power is generated through sheer force and will, and only the hero(es) preternatural lust for revenge usually defeats these awesome Kung Fu menaces.

In BORN INVINCIBLE, you get probably the most bizarre, yet realistic, supervillain in the whole of the genre. Carter Wong's Tai Chi training (a style developed by a woman), starting from a small child, results in iron skin, snow-white hair, and a high, feminine voice. This Tai Chi master becomes an unstoppable thug-chieftain who can fight a deadly duel and, simultaneously, carve a Chinese yin-yang symbol in the earth with his feet. This powerful supervillain operates from a source of disipline that is downright scary; Wong is entirely invincible but for his one weak point. When you see how relentless Wong's killer-master is, you can't help but relate to the terror in the heroes' faces when they have to take him on. Fact is, if not for the honor of their school, which is paramount to the students trying to take revenge for Wong's murder of their teacher, nobody would mess with the Tai Chi master, since it is considered by the most learned monks to be certain death.

What separates Joe Kuo film villains, characters like Wong's and the great Ghost-Faced Killer from MYSTERY OF CHESS BOXING, is that Kuo puts one scene in there to show us the supervillain is also human. Wong's character is stopped from a killing rampage at one point by a white-haired nun, and there's a moment when Wong seems to reflect on what he IS, a killer, as opposed to what he trained to become, an otherworldly kind of priest attuned to nature and the inner forces like the nun. The fact that Wong won't, or can't, stem his bloodlust and sadism is his undoing. There's a lot going on in BORN INVINCIBLE aside from the superior fighting skill of the actors. One of the best Kung Fu films based merely on this unusual depth of character, and a knock-out all the way.

Joseph Kuo has made a brilliant movie because the antagonist, the Chi Kung super villain, is such a good caracter. Carter Wong looks a bit like the icelandic world strongest man champion, Magnus ver Magnusson, but thats the only similarity. He is a killing machine, and there is nothing to be done to stop him. And that will be his demise. He is too evil for this world, and being a Chi Kung master, he should have evolved beyond blood lust. When Wong is asked by his female master to spare Lo Leihs life, Joseph Kuo shows signs of genius. The arch villain has a human side, but is is as repressed as that of Patrick Bateman in American Psycho.

But more than just a super villain, Born Invinsible has a great cast of protagonists. The confidence and skill of Jack Long makes the deadly fights even more dramatic. And can there be a sexier woman than Lo Leih telling Carter Wong to go to hell?

In the late 70s and early 80s as a kung fu fan you were sure of one

thing, lots of kung fu movies - most of them were bad, but some held the

same mythology that if you trained hard enough and knew every secret

there was you'd become invincible. This idea sporned the White Haired

supervillians that would become to showcase kung fu movies. Impossible

to beat, super-tough villians that would sometimes steal the show. The

more white hair, the more powerful they were.

In this movie the real star is the bad guy as we see him kill all those

who stand in his way. Excellent kung fu duels are plenty in this film,

though the ending is a bit silly.

I'd love a redux of this movie for the 21st century - but it'll never

happen - instead enjoy kung fu mastery of the white haired kind in this

movie.

Ove

This is the movie full of fighting but it uses a good story line to keep you wondering just how they will defeat them. Lo-lieh, Lung-fei, Carter wong , these are the star who caught my attention and kept me into the story even though fei died early on the movie his student keep his dream alive