Shaolin Invincible Sticks (1979) - borderline classic?

[falkor]

I want to try and establish whether people generally consider this a 5 star classic or just a good watch. However, some people will criticise any Kung Fu film that most die hard fans consider classics/cult favourites, so I need you all to please answer 3 questions:

1) Do you rate Shaolin Invincible Sticks 5/5, 4/5 or less?

2) Would you consider Shaolin Invincible Sticks, even though it's mainly weapons-based, to be roughly on the same level as Traitorous, Secret Rivals, and Mystery Of Chess Boxing?

3) Are each of the following films better or worse than Shaolin Invincible Sticks:

Death Duel Of Kung Fu

Hot, The Cool & The Vicious

Along Come The Tiger

Killer From Above

Blazing Temple

Raiders Of The Shaolin Temple

Ninja In The Dragon's Den

Shaolin Master & The Kid

Prodigal Son

Daggers 8

Thundering Mantis

Odd Couple

Incredible Kung Fu Mission

Fists, The Kicks & The Evils

Woman Avenger

Cantonen Iron Kung Fu

Shaolin Iron Eagle

Shaolin Red Master

Shaolin Ex-Monk

Killer From Above

?

[Guest Markgway]

1) Do you rate Shaolin Invincible Sticks 5/5, 4/5 or less?

Less. 1.5/4. Sorry... I rate out of ****. But you get the idea. As usual good enough fights... nothing else.

2) Would you consider Shaolin Invincible Sticks, even though it's mainly weapons-based, to be roughly on the same level as Traitorous, Secret Rivals, and Mystery Of Chess Boxing?

Not as good as The Traitorous, evens with the other two.

3) Are each of the following films better or worse than Shaolin Invincible Sticks:

Death Duel Of Kung Fu - Draw

Hot, The Cool & The Vicious - Better

Along Come The Tiger - Better (I think)

Killer From Above - Better

Blazing Temple - Better

Raiders Of The Shaolin Temple - Haven't Seen

Ninja In The Dragon's Den - Better

Shaolin Master & The Kid - Better (I think)

Prodigal Son - Better

Daggers 8 - Better

Thundering Mantis - Worse

Odd Couple - Better

Incredible Kung Fu Mission Draw (I think)

Fists, The Kicks & The Evils - Haven't seen

Woman Avenger - Better

Cantonen Iron Kung Fu - Better (I thinK)

Shaolin Iron Eagle - Worse

Shaolin Red Master - Draw (I think)

Shaolin Ex-Monk - Better (I think)

Killer From Above - Better

[Monk Sante]

I personally like this film but felt the ending could have been better. Good film though.

[Chia Ling AKA Judy Lee]

Borderline? No, stone-cold classic. Thanks for the pictures!

1) 5/5

2) Above Traitorous, on the same level as Secret Rivals, and Mystery Of Chess Boxing

3) Are each of the following films better or worse than Shaolin Invincible Sticks:

Death Duel Of Kung Fu - Evens

Hot, The Cool & The Vicious - Evens

Along Come The Tiger - ?

Killer From Above - ?

Blazing Temple - Evens

Raiders Of The Shaolin Temple - Worse

Ninja In The Dragon's Den - Worse

Shaolin Master & The Kid - Worse

Prodigal Son - ?

Daggers 8 - Worse

Thundering Mantis - Worse

Odd Couple - Worse

Incredible Kung Fu Mission - Worse

Fists, The Kicks & The Evils - Worse

Woman Avenger - Worse

Cantonen Iron Kung Fu - Worse

Shaolin Iron Eagle - Evens

Shaolin Red Master - Worse

Shaolin Ex-Monk - Worse

Killer From Above - ?

- Does anyone happen to have an image of the original poster to this?

[Brigadier Chow]

I rate it 4/5 just for the interesting array of sticks and the style in which they were used. One of Wang Tao's best.

Above Traitorous, Above Secret Rivals, lower than Mystery of Chessboxing

I misunderstood the better / worse question first time so I have edited.

Death Duel Of Kung Fu - Even

Hot, The Cool & The Vicious -worse

Along Come The Tiger - Even

Killer From Above - Better

Blazing Temple - Way worse

Raiders Of The Shaolin Temple - Better, this is one of my faves

Ninja In The Dragon's Den - Better

Shaolin Master & The Kid - Worse

Prodigal Son - Better

Daggers 8 -Even

Thundering Mantis - Better

Odd Couple - Better

Incredible Kung Fu Mission - Better, another fave of mine

Fists, The Kicks & The Evils - Better, Bruce Liang, Philip Ko, Bolo not looking based

Woman Avenger - Better, Pang Kang priceless in this

Cantonen Iron Kung Fu - Better

Shaolin Iron Eagle - Worse

Shaolin Red Master - Worse

Shaolin Ex-Monk - Worse

[shapes]

Wong tao's stick work let this film down, also Chang Yi's Pool cue was a bad choice of weapon.

when you think of films like Odd cuople , Snake and Crane or any Venoms weapons film, this film is quite poor by comaprison

I rate it 3/5

[ironfistedmonk]

1) Do you rate Shaolin Invincible Sticks 5/5, 4/5 or less? - Less, I'd give it a 3 out of 5. I just don't feel this movie all that much. Maybe if I saw a good widescreen original language print I'd rate it higher, the dub is hard work and there are a few annoying characters that I remember really bugging me.

2) Would you consider Shaolin Invincible Sticks, even though it's mainly weapons-based, to be roughly on the same level as Traitorous, Secret Rivals, and Mystery Of Chess Boxing? - On a level with Traitorous, nowhere near Secret Rivals or Chess Boxing which actionwise are far superior IMO

3) Are each of the following films better or worse than Shaolin Invincible Sticks:

Death Duel Of Kung Fu - better

Hot, The Cool & The Vicious - better

Along Come The Tiger - better

Killer From Above - equal

Blazing Temple - worse

Raiders Of The Shaolin Temple - equal

Ninja In The Dragon's Den - better

Shaolin Master & The Kid - better

Prodigal Son - your kidding right? a hundred times better

Daggers 8 - too many better

Thundering Mantis - better

Odd Couple - better

Incredible Kung Fu Mission - better

Fists, The Kicks & The Evils - equal

Woman Avenger - miles better

Cantonen Iron Kung Fu - better

Shaolin Iron Eagle - slightly better

Shaolin Red Master - equal

Shaolin Ex-Monk - better

[Chia Ling AKA Judy Lee]

Does this film have the best intro sequence of all time or what? This was one of the very first films I saw as a youngster and it got me well and truly hooked from the get go.

[silver hermit]

1) Do you rate Shaolin Invincible Sticks 5/5, 4/5 or less? about 3.5 to 4/5 i would have to re watch it

2) Would you consider Shaolin Invincible Sticks, even though it's mainly weapons-based, to be roughly on the same level as Traitorous, Secret Rivals, and Mystery Of Chess Boxing? all these are better traitorus being the best for comparison

3) Are each of the following films better or worse than Shaolin Invincible Sticks:

good questions i hope i'm reading the question right in fear of making a mockery of classics

Death Duel Of Kung Fu better

Hot, The Cool & The Vicious better

Along Come The Tiger even leaning towards better

Killer From Above worse

Blazing Temple hmmm i'm a say better from memory might change the mind after another watch

Raiders Of The Shaolin Temple worse(ROTST finale is better though)

Ninja In The Dragon's Den better

Shaolin Master & The Kid even

Prodigal Son better

Daggers 8 even

Thundering Mantis better

Odd Couple better

Incredible Kung Fu Mission even

Fists, The Kicks & The Evils worse

Woman Avenger better

Cantonen Iron Kung Fu better

Shaolin Iron Eagle better

Shaolin Red Master better

Shaolin Ex-Monk even

Killer From Above worse on here twice lol

[falkor]

I tend to agree with most ratings in Essential Guide To Hong Kong Movies, which gives this 4/5. I thought it might be 5/5, but the choreography is lacking a bit, even if the story/comedy is great.

[northern b]

1) Do you rate Shaolin Invincible Sticks 5/5, 4/5 or less?

Less! it maybe a 3/5 at best too much frame clipping!

2) Would you consider Shaolin Invincible Sticks, even though it's mainly weapons-based, to be roughly on the same level as Traitorous, Secret Rivals, and Mystery Of Chess Boxing?

Secret Rivals is the best out of that bunch imo MOCB = over-rated too many bad edits, pity as the potentials is there..

3) Are each of the following films better or worse than Shaolin Invincible Sticks:

Only films I've seen are listed

Death Duel Of Kung Fu= hmm another I don't particularly rate but its better

Hot, The Cool & The Vicious- better

Ninja In The Dragon's Den- better

Prodigal Son- better

Daggers 8- better

Thundering Mantis - better

Odd Couple- better

Fists, The Kicks & The Evils- better

Woman Avenger- better

Cantonen Iron Kung Fu- better

Shaolin Red Master- better

Shaolin Ex-Monk- better

[butcher wing]

the problem that I have and why it is borderline classic is I find there was way too much cut and paste in the fight sequences. Tung Wei is a good player and I was kind of disappointing to see this much editing either than that it is a very good flick. I enjoy watching it.

[Yang Wu Liang]

1. I love the idea that Chang Yi wants to destroy any one else who uses a stick, just for the evil pleasure of it. I'd give it a 4/5 - it loses a mark for that whiny idiotic son (played by Li Teng Tsai) but gains a mark for the awesome stick intro at the start.

2. It's very slightly inferior to SR, MOCB and Traitorous.

3. I'd say all those films (I've seen) on the list are better than Invincible Sticks with the exception of Death Duel Of Kung Fu and Cantonen Iron Kung Fu which are worse.

[Chia Ling AKA Judy Lee]

3. I'd say all those films (I've seen) on the list are better than Invincible Sticks with the exception of Death Duel Of Kung Fu and Cantonen Iron Kung Fu which are worse.

You're implicitly saying Shaolin Ex Monk is better than Death Duel Of Kung Fu?

[Yang Wu Liang]

LOL no I'm not mate, I didn't word it very well. I should of said - of all the films that I've seen on the list only Death Duel of KF and Cantonen Iron KF are inferior to Invincible Sticks.

I haven't seen Shaolin Ex Monk or Fists, Kicks & Evils.

[Chia Ling AKA Judy Lee]

LOL no I'm not mate, I didn't word it very well. I should of said - of all the films that I've seen on the list only Death Duel of KF and Cantonen Iron KF are inferior to Invincible Sticks.

I haven't seen Shaolin Ex Monk or Fists, Kicks & Evils.

Ah, OK! To be honest, saying a film is better than Death Duel Of Kung Fu is pretty high praise in my humble opinion! But then, I love the Li Teng Tsai character in Shaolin Invincible Sticks, so...

[falkor]

Ex-Monk is a lot better than Death Duel imo

[Chia Ling AKA Judy Lee]

Ex-Monk is a lot better than Death Duel imo

Well, well, looks like I need to re-watch Shaolin Ex Monk then!

[blue_skies]

the problem that I have and why it is borderline classic is I find there was way too much cut and paste in the fight sequences. Tung Wei is a good player and I was kind of disappointing to see this much editing either than that it is a very good flick. I enjoy watching it.

I must admit I found the way they edited the fight sequences rather than just having longer one shot sequences extremely disappointing. For me I didn't find the fights all that exciting as I usually enjoy staff fighting but this seemed to lack an energy and a rhythm, seeming very slow in places. I can't help but agree with comments about annoying characters and a severely bad dub certainly didn't help this movie, not to mention a complete failure on comedy front. I might hang onto the DVD and give it another try in the future but I'm afraid I'm not sure it has the quality to convince me it's as good as most of you are saying.

[odioustrident]

This is one of these films that needs to be seen in a wide format in order to judge the quality. Same applies for most films that focus on weapons.

[Black.Dragon]

No question Shaolin Invicible Sticks is low budget Classic cult film from the great Don Wong Tao.

[mantis FIST]

Gotta watch this. As well as the others on falkor's list.

[BlackLamaFaction]

I like this film, it has all the great stuff I expect from Lee Tso Nam (good action, great villain) but I have to say I found the choreography a little sloppy, especially for Tommy Lee. But then again I always thought Lee was better with hand to hand stuff. I would put it on the same level as Traitorous, which I liked even though I am not a big fan of Carter Wong. I liked it better than Secret Rivals, mainly out of just my own personal taste (John Liu and Hwang Jang Lee usually means kick fest). I liked Chessboxing better because of the cast and the choreography style was the kind of stuff I go for.

Out of the other films listed that I have seen:

Hot, Cool, and Vicious (Better than SIS)

Raiders Of the Shaolin Temple (Worse than SIS)

Prodigal Son (Much better than SIS)

Daggers 8 (Much better than SIS)

Thundering Mantis (Equal)

Odd Couple (Better than SIS)

Fist, Kicks, and Evils (Far Better than SIS)

Cantonen Iron Kung Fu (One of my favorites, so way better than SIS)

Shaolin Red Master (Equal)

[66 Mantis]

For me it's good, not quite great (***). It does feature Hsia Kwan Li and that automatically makes it a must see.

[Killer Meteor]

This would be a 6/10, but that irritating bald mutant son (dubbed with an ear splitting shriek) makes this agony. Chang Yi is seriously awesome though.

4/10