The Invincible Eight - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Invincible Eight



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:




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Movie
And to round out the trilogy of Golden Harvest films that came out last month from 88 films, we have another one of the “OGs” from the very first 9 starter films from the fledgling company. As I mentioned in my review of The Angry River, several members of the Shaw Bro’s team decided to defect and create their own company called Golden Harvest. There they leveraged their experience and contacts from their years at Shaw Bro’s and brought in the golden age of Hong Kong martial arts cinema. But before Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and the amazing 80s and 90s material, the new studio used the well-worn tropes and cookie-cutter frameworks of Shaw Bro’s to create some very similar films in the first couple of years. And while The Angry River was technically put into production first, The Invincible Eight was actually released in theaters first due to a shorter filming schedule. So I’ll just say that these two films share a “tied” status as the first film for the production company.

The Invincible Eight is largely a simple cookie-cutter plot, taken straight from Japanese ronin history. It features a ragtag group of martial arts misfits from all over coming together to take down a vicious Mandarin general who has held his iron fist tight as could be on the general populace for years. It seems that General Hsiao (Han Ying-Chieh, who was also one of the choreographers) has not only been oppressing the populace, but rose to power by conspiring with one of his minions to kill the patriots under his command, and use that as a way to rise undefeated to his status now as General. Now the eight children of his victims have come together with their various skills to take out the general and his thugs once and for all.

There’s some intrigue and a few additions to the assassins as the film goes on, but nothing wild really happens here. We have the typical assassins who are looking for revenge, and a couple of “hidden” members who didn’t know that the General murdered their parents until this point in time. By this point in the plot, the General and his henchman extraordinaire are outed as villains, and the rest of the runtime is a setup for the eventual confrontation between all of them.

And while it definitely isn’t top tier (it borrows a LOT from traditional Shaw Bro’s films, as well as a novel penned by Shaw Bro’s writer Ni Kuang), it’s a lot of fun. The flick doesn’t take itself too seriously, and we’re just swept along with the fun action and over-the-top comedic moments as they try to avoid General Hsiao’s goons. Angela Mao (the Kung-Fu goddess of the Golden Age) is having a ball, and Paul Chang Chung is hilariously over the top. But the one weak spot in the entire film is the choreography. I know that Han Ying-Chieh was excellent at his job in other films, but the fight scenes can feel a bit sloppy and low effort if you’re familiar with Hong Kong action. Obvious stunt men take their falls before cues, kicks are halfway thrown at times, and the camera work is a bit choppy. But still, it’s a fun little jaunt that works well if you’re a fan of classic 60s and 70s Hong Kong period pieces.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1, The Invincible Eight looks pretty good. Supposedly, this came from a 2K restoration from the negative, and this is often a very nice-looking disc. Fine details can be good, with a vibrant color palette and some impressive black levels. But I did notice more than a few instances of softness and out-of-focus shots that were a bit distracting at times. Usually on the extreme edges of the shot, with the left side showing the most. I know certain techniques were used in the 70s where the camera focused in on one or two characters in the foreground and let the background blur out, but it seemed a bit excessive, almost like there was some Vaseline on the outer edges of the lens being used. But that being said, this is still a solid-looking disc for the most part.







Audio:

The Mandarin 2.0 LPCM track is nothing special, but it is a solid performer with good dialog and that typical “boxy” sound that so many films of this era suffered from. The action is a bit constrained, but at the same time I didn’t hear any rasping or distortion on the high end, which is a huge plus for films in this decade. Fisticuffs are appropriately powerful, and while there’s no real low end, there are a few moments where I felt some mid-range bass pop through in the mix.










Extras:

• Audio Commentary by Frank Djeng and Michael Worth
• Theatrical Trailer
• Image Gallery

Final Score: ​

The one minor complaint that I have with all three of the films released this last month was that when Raymond Chow and Leonard Ho created Golden Harvest was that their first few years of films were almost carbon copies of the Shaw Bro’s films, despite forming the studio as a way to do things differently. But that would come in a few years when Bruce Lee took off, and the entire world said: “Oh yeah, we want a CHANGE”. That being said, these are still perfectly fun period piece flicks and The Invincible Eight is a solid popcorn flick in the genre. The 88 Films disc looks good, sounds good, but has pretty weak extras. The strongest part of the entire package is the black Blu-ray case and the heavy-duty slipcase and artwork that it comes with. Fun watch at the least.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Nora Mirao, Ching Tang, Angela Mao, Kun Li, James Tien
Directed by: Wei Lo
Written by: Wei Lo, Ta-Wei Lo, Kuang Ni
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: Mandarin: LPCM 2.0 Mono
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: 88 Films
Rated: NR
Runtime: 99 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: May 12th, 2026

Recommendation: Fun Watch