La Fureur de Shaolin

Another day, another Chang Cheh movie, this one both part of his 'Shaolin' cycle and a Venoms flick to boot. The light plot involves an evil Manchu general exploiting divisions between the North and South style Shaolin fighters, essentially getting them to kill each other while he gloats in the background. I'm a huge Venoms fan and it's very nice to have them all together here, although it's spoilt by the endless training sequences which seem to go on for about an hour; the film has a low budget feel as a result. Still, the gruesome climax goes some way in fixing things, and the experience is an amiable one.

Three kung fu experts (Feng Lu, Chiang Sheng, and Sun Chien) from the North Shaolin temple are summoned to train the Qing army, but must first prove themselves in a friendly fight against the current South Shaolin trainers. North wipe the floor with their cocksure opponents. Later that day, in a move designed to pit North vs South and destroy Shaolin once and for all, devious Qing General Pu (Wang Lung-wei) kills the shamed South Shaolin trainers, pinning the blame on the new arrivals from the North.

On hearing of his students' deaths, the South Shaolin master sends three more of his men to exact revenge, but this time around, two of them are accidentally killed by the Northerners, the third injured fighter returning to his temple to relay the bad news. Realising that none of his students are good enough to beat the North Shaolin, the South Shaolin teacher picks three more men (played by Lo Mang, Kuo Chui and Pai Wei), each to train under a different kung fu master. Six months later, the trio leave to face the North Shaolin, even though both North and South now suspect that they are being manipulated.

With the Five Venoms on top form, kung fu fans can rightfully expect some astonishing old school martial arts action in Chang Cheh's Invincible Shaolin, including an entertaining training sequence that shows off the impressive skills of Lo Mang, Kuo Chui and Pai Wei (Lo Mang does one finger press-ups with a large polystyrene rock placed on his back!!!) and a wonderfully bloody final battle that makes use of lots of red paint as North and South battle it out before joining forces to kick some well-deserving Qing butt. Be warned though, even though evil General Pu gets his comeuppance, it's not without several of the supposedly invincible Shaolin fighters also buying the farm (the Northern fighters dying in front of their helpless fiancées).

When I saw the Unbeatable Dragon also known as Invincible Shaolin I was very impressed with the movie. There was a good story line to it and great acton sequences. With all my favorite guys in it. Chiang Sheng is my number 1 favorite in all the movies because he was the cutest. There where others but I will leave something to talk about next time. Sincerely, The Biggest Venom Fan Ever

Three North Shaolin teachers (Lu Feng, Chang Sheng, and Sun Chien) are called on by the Manchus to teach their soldiers and are urged to challenge the current South Shaolin teachers. They defeat the South Shaolin teachers and, that night, the head general (Wang Lung Wei) kills the South Shaolin teachers and blames their death on the North Shaolin teachers.

What does this film have going for it? For one, this is one of the few Venom films featuring Wei Pai (the Snake). And as another reviewer points out, "Sometimes dramatic and rarely violent, the action is carefully choreographed and edited for maximum visceral and emotional entertainment." Cinematography is key in kung fu movies, because it is all about the action and choreography... which is captured perfectly here.

Another reviewer notes that this was made "while a drunken Jackie Chan was farting in people's faces and sticking frogs down his underpants." Indeed! Maybe the Shaw Brothers and Chang Cheh are not as respected as John Woo, looking back now it seems that their films are the more authentic -- and more fun -- martial arts films of the time.

If you are a big Chang Cheh movie fan this movie is one of his better directorial jobs. Somehow this movie saddens you because most of the major characters (the venoms) are pitted against each other. Because of a cunning plot by the Ching government North Shaolin and South Shaolin are against one another when they are really factions of the same school operating individually. Because of a court order the Ching government uses the best teachers from both the North and South Shaolin to train it's guards. A head Ching official arranges a contest at Ching headquarters to see which school teachers are superior to the other. North Shaolin proves to be far better in this friendly duel. The head Ching official then kills the 3 South Shaolin teachers and frames the North Shaolin teachers for their death, returning their bodies to South Shaolin. South Shaolin is now furious and sends 3 more students to try and defeat the North Shaolin teachers. Another "friendly" duel is arranged and tempers flare. Two more South Shaolin students are killed by North Shaolin teachers. Realizing that South Shaolin is obviously no match for North Shaolin the teacher appoints 3 more students to undergo intense training on particular styles to offset the strengths of the North Shaolin students. These training scenes are some of the best ever to grace the martial arts screen. One South Sholin student (Lo Mang) learns Mantis style, another student (Phillip Kwok) learns Lightskill and the Pole and the last student (Wei Pei, snake) learns a style that specializes in combat in close to the opponent. After they master these skills they are now ready to take revenge they swore to their dying master. At the last minute the two schools realize there is a plot by the Chings to destroy both the schools; but because they swore to their teacher they fight anyway. A classic martial arts film, one of the best Chang Cheh movies ever made. 8/10 on the scale.