Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The crafty General Pu (Wang Lung Wei) invites 3 Northern Shaolin kung fu practitioners, Bao (Lu Feng), Fang (Sun Chien) and Yang (Chiang Sheng) to his palatial estate to demonstrate their skills. He's ostensibly looking for someone to train his troops and he convinces our heroes to engage in a show of skill against 3 Southern Shaolin fighters. The Northerners easily best the 3 Southerners. Adding injury to insult, Pu secretly kills the 3 Southerners and lets the blame for their deaths fall on the 3 Northerners. Three MORE Southerners are dispatched to do battle with the Northerners and two of the three are inadvertently killed; the survivor returns to his Master, Mai, and it's decided that Wing Yu (Kuo Chui), Feng, and Zhu (Lo Meng), will undergo special training to overcome the Northerners. The school, Mai informs his students, will be shut down; the sole survivor of the second confrontation, feeling guilty, kills himself. Yu will be taught by Mai himself; Feng by Liang, "the Gardener," and Zhu by "the Woodcutter." Meanwhile, the 3 Northerners are planning to get married. The elderly Master Mai dies and it's time for the Big Showdown. It's interesting to see these particular actors pitted against one another (especially Kuo Chui against Chiang Sheng, though there ain't nothing' wrong with Lu Feng's hand-to-hand fight with Lo Meng nor Sun Chien's always spectacular kicking). INVINCIBLE SHAOLIN begins and ends with some solid action and there's enough training in between to keep things interesting. Another Chang Cheh classic.

When I saw the Unbeatable Dragon also known as Invincible Shaolin I was very impressed with the movie. There was a good story line to it and great acton sequences. With all my favorite guys in it. Chiang Sheng is my number 1 favorite in all the movies because he was the cutest. There where others but I will leave something to talk about next time. Sincerely, The Biggest Venom Fan Ever

If you are a big Chang Cheh movie fan this movie is one of his better directorial jobs. Somehow this movie saddens you because most of the major characters (the venoms) are pitted against each other. Because of a cunning plot by the Ching government North Shaolin and South Shaolin are against one another when they are really factions of the same school operating individually. Because of a court order the Ching government uses the best teachers from both the North and South Shaolin to train it's guards. A head Ching official arranges a contest at Ching headquarters to see which school teachers are superior to the other. North Shaolin proves to be far better in this friendly duel. The head Ching official then kills the 3 South Shaolin teachers and frames the North Shaolin teachers for their death, returning their bodies to South Shaolin. South Shaolin is now furious and sends 3 more students to try and defeat the North Shaolin teachers. Another "friendly" duel is arranged and tempers flare. Two more South Shaolin students are killed by North Shaolin teachers. Realizing that South Shaolin is obviously no match for North Shaolin the teacher appoints 3 more students to undergo intense training on particular styles to offset the strengths of the North Shaolin students. These training scenes are some of the best ever to grace the martial arts screen. One South Sholin student (Lo Mang) learns Mantis style, another student (Phillip Kwok) learns Lightskill and the Pole and the last student (Wei Pei, snake) learns a style that specializes in combat in close to the opponent. After they master these skills they are now ready to take revenge they swore to their dying master. At the last minute the two schools realize there is a plot by the Chings to destroy both the schools; but because they swore to their teacher they fight anyway. A classic martial arts film, one of the best Chang Cheh movies ever made. 8/10 on the scale.

This Kung Fu film from the Shaw brothers is quite entertaining, but lacks the self-sufficiency and consistence of their earlier "Five Venoms" and now seems dated and slow-paced. However, there are some classic moments, such as the final battle and one of the most hysterically funny death scenes ever! Otherwise, this is merely an okay addition to the Kung Fu genre.