“Born Invincible” Theatrical Poster
Director: Joseph Kuo
Cast: Mark Long, Jack Long, Carter Wong, Lo Lieh, Nancy Yen, Corey Yuen, Yuen Shun Yee, Lung Fei, Alan Chui, Yuen Sam, Chen Chiu, Chu Siu Wa, Yuen Woo Ping
Running Time: 83 min.
By Ian Whittle
My immediate reaction to Born Invincible is that someone must have put all the actor’s names in a hat before assigning roles… we’ve got regular villain Lung Fei playing the master of the good guys, Jack Long playing a student rather than an old master, and although Lo Lieh is in the cast, he’s not playing the white-haired bad guy with a retractable groin. Nancy Yen was lucky she actually ended up with one of the lady roles!
The film begins with a sort of mini-documentary about Tai Chi… which according to this movie is not a bunch of old people doing morning exercises in the park, but rather a little kid being trained in a technique that will render him virtually invincible. The catch… it will whiten his hair, turn his voice “strange to the ear”, and make him look like Carter Wong.
From there we proceed to the Lei Ping school rescuing an old man and his daughter from the Chin San gang (represented by choreographers Corey Yuen Kwai and Yuen Shun-yi in wigs that resemble old mop rags). Unfortunately for the Lei Ping school, their master is played by Lung Fei, who despite being apparently a good guy is a real liability. He punishes his pupils for helping the weak by punishing them, most ludicrously of all sentencing one student (Mark Long) to 3 years without kung fu practice!
The Chin San gang’s masters arrived on the scene to dispense vengeance and kill the Lei Ping’s master and senior pupil, and here again we get a weird piece of casting. Lo Lieh is playing the more normal Chin Sang master, but is dubbed by that English dubber with the effeminate, eunuch-like voice (if you are British, he sounds like Melvyn Hayes; if you are American, John Fielder). Carter Wong, in white wig and glittery waistcoat, is dubbed by Rick Thomas, who can’t really do high pitched, and seems to be having trouble getting his character’s accent locked down, resulting in a weird of Apu from The Simpsons and old-timey Irish drag-act Old Mother Riley. Thomas also struggles with the character’s distinctive (and plot-point specific!) laugh, resulting in an abrupt and frequent jump to the Mandarin dubber. Just to complete the ridiculous image, every time Wong does his groin retraction, the soundtrack plays a slide-whistle that resembles that one that ruined the 360-degree car stunt in The Man with the Golden Gun.
The rather ridiculous villains are not helped by the Lei Ping school being primarily full of boring milksops. Only Mark Long’s character has any real depth and, in the manner of many of the earlier post-Big Boss bashers, the plot contrives to keep him from fighting as long as possible – and even by the standards of this genre, 3 years is absurd! The bad guys could die of old age in that time!
I recall Born Invincible having a high reputation in certain circles – the eccentric Falkor of Rare Kung Fu Movies was a big fan – but the film as a whole, entertaining as it is, is compromised by a ludicrously contrived plot, silly heroes AND villains, and some rather underwhelming fight choreography, which despite being designed by Yuen Woo-ping, relies too heavily on frame-cutting and unconvincing doubles.
I’ll say this: this is worth a look for people who thought Carter Wong couldn’t get a more ludicrous role than his bullfrog impression in Big Trouble in Little China…
Ian Whittle’s Rating: 4/10
