So a while back I picked up The Martial Arts Essentials: The Films of Yuen Wo Ping...and then somehow forgot about it. Recently I noticed it and decided to pop a film in. The first film I watched was Invincible Armor. I can only hope the rest are as good as this one.
The plot is remarkably solid and complex for a kung-fu flick. General Chow Lu Fung (John Li) is framed for the murder of the Ming Minister of Security by an assassin who was sent by the Minister of State, Cheng (Jang Lee Hwang). Cheng wants to kill the Emperor and take over, and the Minister of Security was in the way. Chow evades arrest to try and find the assassin. Cheng sends another lawman after Chow to have him arrested and/or executed so the truth isn't revealed. Along the way we find out that Cheng is a master of the Eagle Claw and Invincible Armor technique, Chow takes refuge with a family that knows how to defeat the Invincible Armor, and there's a whole lot of great fighting in between. The plot points slowly unfold (not that it's hard to guess where it is going) so it doesn't feel like the fighting is simply tacked on.
Here's a couple of other ways you know this film kicks ass. There are plenty of weapons; batons with blades that shoot out, spears with ejectable heads, the ever-present staff and those cool hook blades. There's also a high ratio of white-haired guys.
That's always been a way to know that a kung-fu film will rock. White-haired masters=great kung-fu. Just look at films like Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (also played by Hwang), Executioners from Shaolin or Clan of the White Lotus. White-haired guys kicking ass. And Invincible Armor has two of them. Actually, it has three. But the Minister of Security gets killed off so fast he can't really count.
I can't say enough about how awesome Jang Lee Hwang is in this film. Imagine if Samuel L. Jackson was a white-haired Chinese minister (Hwang is actually Korean, but that's beside the point here) who could kill you with one strike to the forehead. That's Hwang's Minister Cheng; a bad-ass motherfucker who isn't scared of anything. Hell, when General Chow finally confronts him in the final battle, Cheng admits everything and doesn't sweat it. (Note: I should add that I reference Jackson here specifically because Hwang kind of looks like Jackson...if Jackson were Chinese. I shit you not.)
