ckormos1
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.
DirtyGrainius
I hate when people say that about a movie, but hear me out on this one.This movie is so good, only a classic dubbed voice-over could do it justice, but I'll still try here. I first saw this movie 2 weeks ago(today is 25/05/07), and now I've seen it ten times, and own a copy. I had gone on a Kung Fu binge at my local video store which has a small but semi-decent selection when as I was nearing the end of their selection, and I picked this up. Now I have had these binges in the past, but with Kung Fu( NOT TOTAL WIRE-FIGHTING; The Real old-school stuff), once you satisfy the urge, you can go eons without watching, or wanting to watch another kung fu flick. Anyways, I'm at home and have 2 other rented kung fu's, 'Fists and Guts' and the 'The Bhuddist Fist', 2 very decent movies themselves. I tried to decide the best order to watch them, because it's hard for a mediocre Kung Fu Movie to follow a really good one. Since it had Carter Wong I thought well this could be something, but the title was too boastful for me to take seriously - It went in the player 1st, lead-off batter.30 seconds into the movie I stopped it, pressed eject, and bumped it up to # 3, the money spot; It just gave me "that feeling". Now I watched 'Bhuddist Fist' and thought it was really decent. 'Fists and Guts' was great too and funny(The fight scene in the Leper Colony is classic). Then I settled in for what I hoped was the clincher movie.From the classic intro voice-over which describes the nurturing and the nature of Carter Wongs character (not to mention why his voice is the way it is in the movie ), I had goosebumps and a grin.( sidenote - The "cheesy" dubbing makes Kung-Fu movies BETTER if you don't understand Cantonese or Mandarin, and if you have watched a lot and can understand the nuances of the voice teams{since they used the same general group for like 25 years}. The same people would be the voice of villains, the same were the heroes, the same people would be the avenger, the same guy would do the restaurant/noodle stand owner. Basically they help define the characters since Kung-Fu movies generally were always about the same types of characters.)So the movie starts proper and then Hi-Pei Killers come in and start kicking butt; Until First brother is called in. From that first fight to the very end, this movie is everything - EVERYTHING - an old-school "Kung-Fu Movie" should be. Great Lines ("Give this one 'The Quick Trip to Heaven'" - Classic), a killer pair of villains(Carte Wong and Lo Leigh - Awesome), amazing choreography (Yuen Woo Ping is so good), classic "trying to find the weakness training sequences", classic climactic fight sequencing i.e. vs. 1st brother > master > Grand Master, just everything.Thanks for listening, and this is just my two-cents, but this is a must own for every Kung Fu Movie Enthusiast.
legend316
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.
LoneWolf-14
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.
