Movie Review | Shaolin Invincibles (Hou, 1978)
What better way to start the new year than Kung Fu and gorilla suits?
The plot here concerns… do you care? Don’t worry about the plot. You’re just gonna get major zone out anytime characters open their mouths to deliver exposition, which happens often enough so at least somebody involved could pretend they were making a “real” movie. Just tune out these parts and you’ll be fine.
Instead, what you can appreciate are the many fight scenes, most of which are centered around gimmicks, and which wrap up soon enough so they don’t overstay their welcome. But lest you worry you’re in for a whole lot more plot, another fight scene is never too far off. The gimmicks often involve the weapon used by the villains, like a deadly fan and a red thing with a chain. There’s also a fight scene in a bedroom rigged with a trapdoor, which seems like a bad idea were you to accidentally set it off. Some of the colour comes from the villains themselves, like two guys with giant wagging tongues, which end up being a liability. The heroes don’t have a lot of personality, but there is at least one recognizable face in Carter Wong, and a pair of Kung Fu ladies with matching outfits, so they’re easy enough to root for. The fights are performed and filmed competently enough, and are often assisted by trampolines, a technique also favoured by King Hu. So this is exactly like one of his movies.
But the real reason you should watch this for are the gorilla suits. This is not the only Kung Fu movie featuring gorilla suits. Like in Bruce Lee the Invincible and unlike Bruce Lee in New Guinea, the gorillas here are in the service of evil, although in their defense they’ve been forced into it by the villain, who attacks their weak points with a trampoline-assisted jump. Which is tragic in any case, as apes should remain uncorrupted by the vices of man. The gorillas do not do pure Kung Fu, but instead fight like gorillas and make gorilla noises, although nobody would mistake these guys for the real thing. But they nonetheless brought me great joy anytime they were onscreen.
So if you’re watching this and start to zone out at any point, just keep repeating:
Any movie with a gorilla suit is automatically a good movie…
Any movie with a gorilla suit is automatically a good movie…
Any movie with a gorilla suit is automatically a good movie…
