Combate Mortal

The Crippled Avengers is a very entertaining film by cult kung fu movies production company called Shaw Brother. It has all the actors who have participated in The Five Deadly Venoms and Chinese Super Ninjas 1. It certainly has a classic cast who knows how to fights beautifully. It also has a cool plot that has surely inspired the directors of Crippled Masters, crappy kung fu movies in which there also some crippled avengers, However, The Crippled Avengers by The Shaw Brothers manages to entertain much more either than The Crippled Masters or The Five Deadly Venoms. Most of its fights are fantastic, even though that some of them can actually bore you. The characters and the acting are very typical for a Shaw Brothers' production. However, The Crippled Avengers has an interesting plot and a faire of blood compared to the average kung fu flick. The story is about a master whose son's hand had been cut before his son and him became revengeful due to that incident. They make innocent people crippled for no reason. Therefore, some of the people who have been crippled by them become avengers, even though that they are crippled. They meet a master who teaches them and train them useful kung fu techniques that can be practiced even by those who are disabled. In a nutshell, The Crippled Avengers is an entertaining kung fu flick that I certainly recommend to those who are in favour of kung fu and martial arts cinema. 7/10

'Crippled Avengers (1978)' starts with a woman and child being mutilated by a rival gang, and you'd think the rest of the film would follow the now-armless boy as he grows up and learns Kung fu to get revenge on his attackers. You'd be wrong, though. Instead, the boy's father turns up and kills all three of his opponents with a single punch each, then promises to build his son a new set of iron arms and allow him to train in martial arts. Cut to many years later, and the now-adult son has joined his father in ruling over a nearby village with utter contempt and ruthlessness. Driven by bitterness, the pair - and their equally as despicable friend/ coworker - take it upon themselves to disable anyone who so much as thinks about inconveniencing them in even the most minor way. It really is unexpected that these would become the villains, but it makes for a more interesting movie by twisting the format slightly and allowing the true heroes to emerge. Those heroes are the eponymous avengers, and I don't think it's a spoiler to say that each of them crosses paths with the baddies early on. One is blinded because he expressed happiness that mercy was shown to someone, one is deafened (and made mute) because he verbally challenged the antagonist's ruthless rule, one has his legs removed because he accidentally bumps into the man with the iron firsts, and the last - an already skilled martial artist - is given brain damage because he attempts to defeat the evildoers after seeing what they've done to the other three. Needless to say, the punishment does not equal the supposed crime. The four victims find their way to a martial arts master and spend the next three years learning not just how to overcome their disabilities, but how to use them to their advantage. When their Kung fu is strong enough, they set out for vengeance. Although it's a classic revenge story at its core, the flick never really feels like its heroes are in it just for themselves. Instead, it feels like they're fighting for a somewhat 'noble' cause, taking down the villains because it will end their reign of tyranny over the nearby town. There are also brief moments of humour sprinkled throughout the narrative, both intentional and otherwise. Therefore, it feels surprisingly light despite its relatively heavy events. When everything comes together, it's a blast. Just when you think you've seen all the different types of choreography possible in a movie like this, the piece goes and throws in some metal hoops to redefine your definition of 'humanly possible'. Some of the set-pieces are just genius. The feature places more focus on sheer acrobatics than a lot of its peers, which is a refreshing angle to take and allows for some stunning scenes in which the players twist and flip and tumble through the air like they're competing for gold at the Olympics. The different styles of the four heroes also come together nicely, as a lot of a attention is placed on their teamwork and the ways in which they help each other out with their various weaknesses (two bros kick butt and hold hands for a lot of this and it's great). The final third, in particular, is a ton of fun. Some of the stuff before that is a little strained, and the training sequences don't quite convey the sense of progression I'd like them to. The writing is generally quite clunky, and a lot of the dialogue is stilted both in itself and in its delivery (a few of the performers are notably better at fighting than talking). It's unclear how much of this is due to the translation (MUBI's subtitles are clearly incorrect on a number of occasions), but several of the more obviously iffy segments must have been as such from the moment they were filmed. The final fight is also marred somewhat by an obvious and ungainly wirework stunt that serves to do nothing other than pull you out of the experience right when it ought to be at its most satisfying. It's made all the more frustrating by the fact that the actors don't need wires to impress, as evidenced by... well, literally everything we've seen them do prior to this moment. Still, despite some legitimate issues, the overall experience is exciting, well-paced and chock-full of astonishing set-pieces. It's really entertaining.

From a completely martial arts stand point this movie rocks! The fight scenes are very very well done! The Chinese opera performers really did themselves credit.

As for the plot, well it is a typical kung fu theater movie, with the heroes battling incredible odds and adversity culminating in a good but rather short final battle

A must see for kung fu fans

No pun intended - I am surprised that this also was released under the title of return of the 5 deadly venoms .. I reckon people tried to cash in on another movie by Chah Cheng ... who also directed this one. And also the movie does have some of the same actors .. Lo Meng amongst them to name just one.

That all said, hopefully you don't mind that title .. but also do not mind the Crippled Avengers (no relation to the MCU either in case you were wondering). Let's also say that you should not expect any political correctness .. at all. Also the mentioned Lo Meng is clearly not someone who was an actor ... I reckon he learned a lot by doing ... he seems to be quite sure about his martial art ... but also that film martial art is .. well different .. even more so, if you have a "handicap".

All that said, the movie has some incredible scenes .. the fighting is quite well choreographed. Of course like with many movies from that era, the props do look quite cheap nowaday ... you can tell those were not really swords for example ... but they did that to protect their actors and stunt people. Try not to be fixated about stuff like that .. and just enjoy the mayhem .. maybe a bit too long .. but still a movie any eastern/martial arts fan has to have watched at least once ...

This is the third classic Hong Kong martial arts movie I've watched in the last few days, and it dawned on me I'd been taking something for granted: no stunt doubles. It seems obvious now, but it's always cool when the actors are genuinely doing all their own stunts, and there's no awkward editing to hide switch-ups between actor and stunt double.

Crippled Avengers proved to be another satisfying martial arts film. It at first seems to centre on a father whose wife is killed and his son maimed by getting his arms chopped off, and their desire for revenge (the son gets metal arms built for him that make his punches super deadly). But no - these two are the villains, and either they were evil all along, or the tragedy made them evil, because they go on to maim another four characters in various ways, and they're the heroes who train for the purpose of seeking revenge for their permanent injuries.

The first third is the weakest - it's all the set-up and main characters getting injured/disfigured one by one. The second third is focused on training, and I think I enjoyed that part the most. And then the final third is where most of the action/revenge is, and it was also largely satisfying, with plenty of impressive choreography and creative fight scenarios on display.

Like many martial arts movies, the ending feels abrupt. I think the first act is a little repetitive, and the way the writers keep finding reasons to send the hero with metal legs out of the action (he's the most powerful, because he had his legs cut off and replaced with iron, much like the main villain's son's arms) gets pretty comical. But most of it works well, and I did find the story and characters more engaging than I usually do in martial arts movies. I think it's pretty successful overall.