Thanks for the memories!

Brilliant and touching

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

THE INVINCIBLE ARMOUR is a solid piece of period fu that doesn't disappoint when it comes to hard-hitting fight action. The storyline is some needlessly convoluted thing that draws in various sub-plots, the most prominent of which involves a man who is framed for murder and must fight to clear his name while the authorities pursue him. As is usual for this period of kung fu, the heroes are all Ming patriots fighting for their country's dynasty.The complexities of the narrative pale in comparison to the martial arts involved, which is rather complex. There are no less than three styles studied in-depth here: the titular 'iron armour', which renders the human body impervious to strikes; the 'iron finger' strike, which has the power to combat the 'iron armour' technique, and the 'eagle claw' strike, which is just all-round deadly.The producers in Hong Kong headed to Taiwan to shoot this on the cheap, but cheap production values mean that they could afford to put a whole host of Hong Kong talent up on the screen. Not least of these is the immortal Hwang Jang Lee as the villain; hidden behind his long white hair and beard, Lee remains as deadly as ever and never disappoints in the fighting stakes. I love the sinister music that accompanies his character wherever he goes (elsewhere, the soundtrack of the spaghetti western DAY OF ANGER is ripped off extensively). John Liu is acceptable as the upstanding young hero out for justice, but the supporting cast is even better. We get Phillip Ko as another long-haired master, while Corey Yuen and Yuen Biao team up for cameos as an assassin pair.The fight action is hugely entertaining and the strikes are all hard-hitting and convincingly staged. As is usual for these films, the action gets better and better as the running time progresses, finishing with a furious final bout. Yuen Woo-ping worked on the choreography, and it shows. Hard-working director/producer Ng See-Yuen has also handled GAME OF DEATH 2 and THE SECRET RIVALS during his lengthy and illustrious career.

Often times I find old school kung fu movies that have terrible plot or bad fighting. If I can excuse the bad plot I can watch it for the fight scenes, but a movie that does a good job on both is a real gem. The movie goes into great detail about the fighting techniques involved. Even if it is fantastical like magic, it is nice to see that the film makers took that extra effort to design choreography around the mythology of the specific kung fu style. The master of the Iron armor certainly shows off his invulnerability by trading blows with his opponent. Chow's fancy footwork was fun to behold. Shen was also able to demonstrate his unique double spear tipped Tonfa. Instead of having 3-4 major action scenes, the movie is well paced with 6+ fights leading up to the finale. A good balance of plot and action keeps me interested in the movie as an action movie, while I can still appreciate the reason behind all the fighting.

John Liu and Hwang Jang Lee once again star together in this Ming Dynasty kung fu epic film. The movie deals with a Ming General being framed for murder. He must fight off soldiers while looking for the real murderer. The movie was choreographed by Yuen Woo Ping (along with Corey Yuen and Yuen Biao) and the fights are great. Liu's kicks are awesome, simply delightful. Hwang Jang Lee mostly uses the eagle's claw technique and doesn't kick as much as he should. However, the choreography isn't as complex and drawn-out as many movies during that time period are. It's fast-paced and very fluid. Overall, a must see for kung fu fans. You won't be disappointed.

If it's starring Hwang Jang Lee your in for a great movie!This one is a great.This movie is starts out with action and it has very little time to spare with corny comedy like on some kung fu movies.The movies plot is ok.For such a great movie though I thought they could have wrote the movie with a little more drama and twists to keep you guessing on who is good and bad!Great fighting styles,Eagle's claw,Iron finger armor,High leg kicks from John Liu.If you like white long haired masters like me... you will like this movie also.The White haired masters one on one near the end what could be better!The end finishes strong which reminds me of the movie Fist of the white lotus somewhat.Hwang Jang Lee was so strong that you could have thrown a ton brick in his face and he would have still been coming to you!Scary!