Fearless Fighters is not a good film in terms of martial arts: the movie is wall-to-wall fighting, but none of it is particularly impressive. That said, the film is still plenty of fun thanks to its likeable protagonists, and a crazy array of villains with silly names and even sillier weapons.
The film opens with Chen Chen Chow, AKA the Lightning Whipper (Chi Ma), escorting a shipment of government gold when he is attacked by bandits -- rogue members of the Eagle Claw fighting clan led by the evil To Pa (Min-Hsiung Wu). Chen Chen Chow sees off the bandits, but they return in stronger numbers, and he is forced to flee without the gold, and with two poison arrows in his body. When righteous Eagle Claw brother Lei Peng (Yuan Yi) learns that To Pa has dishonoured the clan, he nabs the gold and takes it to his home, planning to return it to the government, but before he can do so, he is wrongfully arrested for the theft and imprisoned.
The Lightning Whipper somehow makes it home and, before dying, tells his son Chen (Ming Chiang) and daughter Mu Lan (Ching-Ching Chang) that he was ambushed. The siblings vow to avenge their father by killing the man who has been arrested for the crime, unaware that Lei Peng is innocent. Meanwhile, To Pa and his men go to Peng's home to retrieve the gold and slaughter Peng's family. Peng's brother escapes from the house, carrying Peng's son on his back, but they are soon cornered by To Pa's men; help comes in the form of beautiful swordswoman Lady Tieh (Ming-Ming Hsiao), who is too late to save Peng's brother, but who rescues the young boy by killing all of the attackers.
In town, Chen gets himself thrown into jail to get close to Peng, but after helping the man to escape, he becomes uncertain about the man's guilt; Mu Lan, on the other hand, still wants to kill him. While on the run, the trio are attacked by bandits, who they defeat with ease, and are joined by Lady Tieh, but To Pa has been busy recruiting help, hiring the deadliest killers and kung fu experts in the land.
This is where the fun really kicks in, crazy new foes including Flying Sparrow (armed with hand-held curved blades than can be thrown when needed), Solar Ray (who uses shiny discs to launch energy blasts), Sword of All Swords (not as great as his name suggests), the two Soul Pickers, Vampire Phantoms (fanged fighters in blackface), and arrogant Loner AKA One Man Army. When Peng is thrown off a cliff by To Pa, a random old man appears and equips Peng's broken body with extendable prosthetic limbs with retractable blades, which comes in useful when faced with To Pa's Devil Rippers (ridiculous looking bladed gloves). While not on the same crazy level as Master of the Flying Guillotine (but then what is?), Fearless Fighters delivers enough bonkers action to make it an entertaining time-waster, especially with characters being able to leap great heights, levitate and fly when necessary.
