I’ll never be hip to today’s lingo. Hell, I still use the word “hip.” But being the social media addict I am, I often come across terms that are destined to cement themselves as staples of today’s youthful lexicon. Recently, that term was “slop.” If you don’t know, “slop” is used to describe terrible “cookie cutter” films churned out by big studios. They usually star John Cena, I think. But “slop” has evolved – I’ve recently seen X/Twitter users referring to straight-to-streaming Chinese films as “Chinese slop.” And that leads me to today’s review…
Last night, I sat down to watch director Luo Yi Wei’s (Swords Drawn) sophomore effort, Invincible Swordsman, and I have to say, if this is “Chinese slop,” consider me the fat little piggy gobbling it right up. By that, I mean the film is rather good.
Invincible Swordsman is based on the wuxia novel, “The Smiling, Proud Wanderer” by Jin Yong. I haven’t read the novel but I’m very familiar with the Swordsman films, a trilogy released in 1990 (Swordsman), 1992 (Swordsman II), and 1993 (The East is Red aka Swordsman III) respectively. The trilogy is an adaptation of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer. Invincible Swordsman squeezes all three films into a single two-hour run time. It’s a lot to take in – and quite convoluted at times – but if you give it the attention it deserves, you’re in for a pretty fun time…
So what is the film about? Well…a lot. Mostly, it’s about feuding martial arts clans.
Put simply, there’s a “big bad” called The Invincible East. However, he refuses to show his face to his enemies so he has Invincible East avatars. That’s where Zhang Yuqi (aka Kitty Zhang) comes in. She becomes the new face of Invincible East, and ultimately falls for wandering swordsman, Tim Huang’s (Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms) Ling Hu Chong. But she’s also doomed to add fuel to the clan war fire and bring about the ultimate demise of Invincible East’s enemies. Confused? You will be.
There’s a whole host of side-characters too. Some are important. Some are not so important. But they’re all equally as colorful and outlandish (a good thing). Even martial arts legend, Sammo Hung, pops up for an extended cameo as martial arts master, Feng Qing Yang.
While it’s a complex tale, Invincible Swordsman is massively entertaining. CGI is used to present many of the lush fantasy landscapes, but actual real locations are what makes this one so special. It’s so nice to see a fantasy film with real forests, real mountains, and real temples. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings this ain’t. The cast is great too. Tim Huang brings a certain cheekiness to the role of Ling Hu Chong and I found myself smirking at his poetic meanderings about fine wine. He’s a smart little scamp but I’ll be damned if he isn’t likeable.
Zhang Yuqi (CJ7) does her best Brigitte Lin (Swordsman 2 and The East is Red) impression and for the most part, it works really well. She may not be able to match the legendary actress’ gravitas, but she swings for the fences and does a pretty stellar job. Her wuxia version of a femma fatale is as graceful and quietly poetic as she is…ahem…sexy. The supporting cast is strong as well. Some of Invincible East’s henchmen (including a cleaver-wielding maniac and a blind mandolin player) are wonderfully cartoonish and it really adds a sense of comic book-like appeal to the whole thing.
At around the halfway mark, things do get a little rocky. The film begins to feel a little crammed with countless characters popping up to have little-to-no impact on the story..
And that’s Invincible Swordsman’s biggest flaw – it feels a little undeveloped. You get less character development and more character “moments” that ultimately have little weight. The film does feel a little flimsy at times. Empty, even. It doesn’t distract from the overall enjoyment but, for example, the central romance of the film should be epic a la Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but it all feels a little brief and weightless. Lucky for us, when the drama slows down, the action picks up and the setpieces on display are truly special.
If you appreciate films like Tsui Hark’s Detective Dee series, you’ll have a great time with this one. The fight scenes are big, silly and very well done. Floating swaths of red cotton, fatal flying needles, broken swords, chi energy, flaming cauldrons… It’s all here. It’s modern wire work at its very best in my opinion. Pay close attention and you’ll notice some truly excellent stunt and camera work. Long story short, this is good filmmaking. Better than Tsui Hark’s other fantasy swordplay film, Flying Swords of Dragon Gate, for example.
A simple review for Invincible Swordsman would be “the good outweighs the bad.” Even with a pretty hefty run time for a DTV film, it never gets dull. It’s a thrilling, enthralling fantasy film that’s fated to be lost in the throng of similar films coming out of China at the moment.
The good news is that the wonderful folks at Well Go USA are releasing Invincible Swordsman on Digital and Blu-ray on August 19th. As a fan of the film (it may end up on my “Top 10 Action Films of 2025” list), I can tell you it’s worth every penny.