For fans of stick fighting this is a treat though the actual fighting, though featuring nearly every type of stick (including an iron bar) is not to the same standard as say '8 Diagram Pole Fighter'. But Don Wong Tao, though not a great actor, is athletic and dominates the screen. Chang Yi is great as Lu Tai-yeh, a Silver Fox type figure who for reasons never explained wants to kill every other stick fighter he can find. Ha Kwong Li and Kam Kong help along the way. The story is very ordinary, the comedy more than usually annoying (except for the probably unintentional humour of a teacher's dying words to his idiot son) but the final fight in a bamboo grove is worth waiting for. The Vengeance DVD is a reasonable print with bad dubbing. The only extras are a deleted scene.
9 Reviews
No fists, lots of sticks.
thedeadlyspawn796 March 2009
When I watched this movie it was called Fists of Shaolin, which is odd because not a single punch is thrown in the entire film. However, if stick fighting is your thing then this movie is for you. I couldn't possibly comment on the authenticity of the fight scenes but they are certainly entertaining, especially the final duel. All the usual ingredients are present-bad dubbing, ridiculous characters etc. yet a lot of the humour appears to be intentional. The villain is a real highlight, sporting the trademark long white beard and hair which is so popular amongst evildoers in martial arts flicks. Although the story isn't particularly original and I wouldn't be surprised to learn the score was stolen from another movie I thoroughly recommend this film.
How many inches does it take to turn a stick into a pole?
ckormos18 October 2016
The movie starts quickly with the white eyebrows gang appearing invincible. Cut to the narrator and demonstration of various "stick" fighting weapons and techniques. Back to the movie and Don Wong is more interested in gambling and having fun rather than learning his family's tradition of "stick" fighting. Chang Yi wants to destroy all the "stick" fighting families. Don can "stick" fight but he is not good enough to inherit the family's most valued POLE so his family disowns him. (He should have known this day was coming but it is a surprise.)
He is now wandering, broke and homeless. He encounters Kam Kong and after a fight they buddy up. Kam's uncle has a school that comes under attack. Don trains hard to regain the family's respect and ties. If there was a reason for this change in character it was lost in the dubbing or it was never there in the first place.
There are more story lines but why bother? The whole point is for Don to come of age and return to his family as a master of the Shaolin pole. The other story lines are just filler material for in between the fights. They are not interesting and they don't augment the action at all.
The fights are fabulous. The pole is my favorite weapon and the choreography here is all top notch. The fights are all the movie really has going for it in my opinion. Still I rate it about average and recommend it for fans of the genre.
He is now wandering, broke and homeless. He encounters Kam Kong and after a fight they buddy up. Kam's uncle has a school that comes under attack. Don trains hard to regain the family's respect and ties. If there was a reason for this change in character it was lost in the dubbing or it was never there in the first place.
There are more story lines but why bother? The whole point is for Don to come of age and return to his family as a master of the Shaolin pole. The other story lines are just filler material for in between the fights. They are not interesting and they don't augment the action at all.
The fights are fabulous. The pole is my favorite weapon and the choreography here is all top notch. The fights are all the movie really has going for it in my opinion. Still I rate it about average and recommend it for fans of the genre.
Strong central facets are weakened by many questionable choices
I_Ailurophile16 November 2023
Hong Kong cinema is broadly famous for its martial arts action flicks above all else. Even among titles of that bent there can be surprising variety in terms of the visual aesthetics, the disciplines that are spotlighted, the strength of the writing, the production values, and more. That variety can also apply to quality, however, and just as some examples of such fare are must-see classics, on the other end of the spectrum are some titles that we might generously say struggle. 'Shaolin invincible sticks,' unfortunately, is the type that struggles. And the thing is, it should be a significantly better film than it is, but in most every way choices were made that severely reduce the value this can claim.
The emphasis here is on stick fighting, and the varieties of stick weapons. With that especially in mind we're treated to outstanding stunts, fight choreography, and action sequences, all a treasure and definitely the top highlight of these ninety minutes. Though not as noteworthy here as elsewhere, the sets, filming locations, and costume design are all swell, too. There are also some splendid narrative threads on hand, namely those of a young upstart who must train and gain allies to earn the respect of his elders, and a trio of cruel villains who are slaying stick fighters throughout the region. Regrettably, things start to break down beyond these core facets, and the viewing experience is a bit of a laborious one.
Even if we make allowances for poor translation, or freely made changes, a lot of the dialogue is simply terrible - stilted, simple, and unbelievable. If one has the misfortune of finding a dubbed version to watch, the dubbing is so awful that it alone makes this almost unwatchable. On top of the dominant story threads, action scenes, and training sequences are too many examples of side plots and tertiary scene writing that is tawdrily and unconvincingly kluged onto the whole, making the picture unwieldy and unbalanced in the process, like a car onto which has been welded a number of large, ill-considered sculptures in all the worst places. All this is to say nothing of boorish instances of ableism, fatphobia, and light treatment of kidnapping and sexual assault in what are supposed to be comedic sequences. The simple fact of the matter is that the storytelling feels direly unfocused.
The latter feeling is not aided by poor editing and sequencing that chops up the presentation in a gawky, sometimes almost senseless manner. To be frank, the cinematography isn't much better; all too often choices are made that reduce the visualization of a scene, or that frame it in curious and unhelpful ways. It can at least be said that action sequences are the least likely to be impacted by these criticisms, but they are not entirely free of the matter, either. The result of all this is central strength that's troubled by unseemly additions and questionable realization, and I'd be plainly lying if I said it weren't hard to particularly enjoy 'Shaolin invincible sticks' in turn. It's not outright bad, yet so many choices were made here that distinctly take away from its best potential. I suppose it's still decent enough to watch if you happen to come across it, but definitely don't go out of your way, and there are many other flicks that you should be prioritizing instead.
The emphasis here is on stick fighting, and the varieties of stick weapons. With that especially in mind we're treated to outstanding stunts, fight choreography, and action sequences, all a treasure and definitely the top highlight of these ninety minutes. Though not as noteworthy here as elsewhere, the sets, filming locations, and costume design are all swell, too. There are also some splendid narrative threads on hand, namely those of a young upstart who must train and gain allies to earn the respect of his elders, and a trio of cruel villains who are slaying stick fighters throughout the region. Regrettably, things start to break down beyond these core facets, and the viewing experience is a bit of a laborious one.
Even if we make allowances for poor translation, or freely made changes, a lot of the dialogue is simply terrible - stilted, simple, and unbelievable. If one has the misfortune of finding a dubbed version to watch, the dubbing is so awful that it alone makes this almost unwatchable. On top of the dominant story threads, action scenes, and training sequences are too many examples of side plots and tertiary scene writing that is tawdrily and unconvincingly kluged onto the whole, making the picture unwieldy and unbalanced in the process, like a car onto which has been welded a number of large, ill-considered sculptures in all the worst places. All this is to say nothing of boorish instances of ableism, fatphobia, and light treatment of kidnapping and sexual assault in what are supposed to be comedic sequences. The simple fact of the matter is that the storytelling feels direly unfocused.
The latter feeling is not aided by poor editing and sequencing that chops up the presentation in a gawky, sometimes almost senseless manner. To be frank, the cinematography isn't much better; all too often choices are made that reduce the visualization of a scene, or that frame it in curious and unhelpful ways. It can at least be said that action sequences are the least likely to be impacted by these criticisms, but they are not entirely free of the matter, either. The result of all this is central strength that's troubled by unseemly additions and questionable realization, and I'd be plainly lying if I said it weren't hard to particularly enjoy 'Shaolin invincible sticks' in turn. It's not outright bad, yet so many choices were made here that distinctly take away from its best potential. I suppose it's still decent enough to watch if you happen to come across it, but definitely don't go out of your way, and there are many other flicks that you should be prioritizing instead.
Not too bad
john_r0354 October 2003
This is a pretty typical early Hong Kong kung-fu film - i.e. Young man who looks like Bruce Lee has to fight a bad guy. However, the fighting sequences are quite good, and the dubbed English version, which I saw has quite a lot of humour. Although the picture quality isn't too good, I found it better than, for example, Bruce Lee's 'The Big Boss'. 6/10.
Standard kung fu action with towering turns from Chang Yi and Kam Kong
Leofwine_draca17 December 2016
Warning: Spoilers
More low-budget kung fu madness, just one in a shed load full of cheap, rare, usually bad '70s martial arts flicks released to budget DVD in recent months. This is an effective, predictable, action-packed offering which is a fine contender for the award of "worst dubbing job" ever – yep the terrible cockney accents and bizarre lilting British voices on display here are absolutely atrocious, a mixture of the familiar (the same British guy who dubs almost every '70s kung fu flick) and the just plain awful. In fact some of the dubbing is so poor it makes the scenes hard to watch (especially with the whiny, spoilt guy who fawns after his father all the while, the most annoying voice ever).
Aside from a couple of unwise sub-plots, this is a lean, action-orientated type of film, with a plot familiar to anyone with the slightest inkling of Hong Kong style flicks: an old, white-haired guy roams the countryside, killing every stick fighter he meets. That's it, the entire plot. Chang Yi plays the villain and is excellent in the role, it's a shame he disappears for a good forty minutes but its worth sticking around to see him battle in the inventive finale, where the hero ingeniously makes use of the bamboo canes to defeat his enemy. Said hero is played by newcomer Don Wong, unfamiliar to me, but just another in the long, long line of Jackie Chan-style imitators. He's neither particularly good nor particularly bad, just so so, and very unmemorable.
The film's emphasis is on comedy for the first half, drama for the second, the usual template. Some of the (very cultural-based) humour is effective, at other times it drags. Kam Kong (no relation) is excellent as the big, bald fighter whose first dialogue is "Bean curd! Come and get your lovely bean curd!". There are a ton of action scenes, all of them involving stick fighting. Boring you might think, but there are all kinds of sticks – wobbly sticks, short sticks, spiked sticks, long sticks, and my favourite, the massive log that Kong carries! The fights are choreographed well without being particularly spectacular, but I would say there is nothing very memorable here which stands out. Saying that, this is (for the most part) painless viewing, although probably one for the initiated rather than the newcomer.
Aside from a couple of unwise sub-plots, this is a lean, action-orientated type of film, with a plot familiar to anyone with the slightest inkling of Hong Kong style flicks: an old, white-haired guy roams the countryside, killing every stick fighter he meets. That's it, the entire plot. Chang Yi plays the villain and is excellent in the role, it's a shame he disappears for a good forty minutes but its worth sticking around to see him battle in the inventive finale, where the hero ingeniously makes use of the bamboo canes to defeat his enemy. Said hero is played by newcomer Don Wong, unfamiliar to me, but just another in the long, long line of Jackie Chan-style imitators. He's neither particularly good nor particularly bad, just so so, and very unmemorable.
The film's emphasis is on comedy for the first half, drama for the second, the usual template. Some of the (very cultural-based) humour is effective, at other times it drags. Kam Kong (no relation) is excellent as the big, bald fighter whose first dialogue is "Bean curd! Come and get your lovely bean curd!". There are a ton of action scenes, all of them involving stick fighting. Boring you might think, but there are all kinds of sticks – wobbly sticks, short sticks, spiked sticks, long sticks, and my favourite, the massive log that Kong carries! The fights are choreographed well without being particularly spectacular, but I would say there is nothing very memorable here which stands out. Saying that, this is (for the most part) painless viewing, although probably one for the initiated rather than the newcomer.
A Must For Martial Arts Movie Fans
dharmjatt21 February 2007
A very under-rated martial arts film, its got great action and humour and I strongly recommend any martial arts movie fan to watch this. It is true that majority of the fighting in this film uses sticks and has very little hand to hand combat but nevertheless its a good movie and great action. I only wish that more time and money could've been spend to give the the movie more of a story line i.e. some romance which was evident between the two main characters in the film. The ending could have been longer and better. The English dubbing could have been improved, but hey I would keep their funny accents since those give the movie humour. I agree this film is better than a lot of more so called good martial arts movies like Big Boss.
It's not the size, it's the Skill that counts...
poe-488334 January 2016
Warning: Spoilers
In SHAOLIN INVINCIBLE STICKS, the somewhat pampered son of a famous stick-fighting family falls from grace (the family pole got stole) and must forever after prove himself worthy of respect. The one thing that he has going for him is his ability with sticks of every size; because, as most of us well know, it's not the SIZE of the Stick that counts, it's the SKILL with which one wields said stick. Two sticks are better than one (though THAT'S a matter of personal preference) and an extension rarely hurts... Just remember: keep a tight grip on one's pole at all times; just as the hero here does after beating after beating leads to an explosive climax...
Typical plot great kung fu
evony-jwm11 April 2021
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