Born invincible

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.

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.

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

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

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.