‘The Invisible Fight’ Blu-Ray Review – A Rock-And-Roll Martial Arts Journey To Enlightenment

USSR-China border, 1973: Young soldier Rafael is on guard duty when the border falls under attack from flying Chinese kung fu warriors, leaving him as the sole survivor. Utterly fascinated by the long-haired martial artists who easily dispatched his fellow guards, all while blasting forbidden Black Sabbath music from their portable radio, Rafael is struck by a revelation: he too wants to become a kung fu warrior. Looking for mentorship but with limited options, faith leads Rafael to seek martial arts teachers at the most unlikely of places: the local Eastern Orthodox monastery, where the black-clad monks begin his training. With a skeptical mother, a rival monk, and a budding love interest pulling him in different directions, Rafael finds that his journey to unlock the greatest martial art of all – the almighty power of humility – is long, winding, and full of kick-ass adventures.

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Video Quality

The Invisible Fight comes to Blu-Ray in a 1080p presentation that captures its specific vision effortlessly. This is a visually dynamic film with a deliberate throwback style which is realized quite favorably including intermittent damage marks. There are striking shots of the locales and various makeup effects throughout where you can see a significant amount of detail. The film is saturated with rich hues including some of the costumes and elements of the production design. The film has a golden push that suits the aesthetic well. The highlights are handled beautifully, along with the pleasantly deep blacks that do not appear to stumble with any compression artifacts. Skin tones look very detailed and natural all around with a good amount of texture. Kino Lorber has treated this one very well. 

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray disc comes with a solid DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track in the original Estonian and Russian that works adamantly to showcase this soundscape. Dialogue comes through clearly even when it competition with some of the sound effects. Important information never gets overwhelmed when it is not supposed to. The sound design is carefully deployed with all of the sounds placed just right in the mix. 

The environmental effects conjure a more three-dimensional space which gives the narrative extra character. Throughout this adventure, you are provided with a track that completely immerses you in the journey. Activity in the low end makes itself known when the situation calls for it. There is a persistent needle drop that is vital to the proceedings which comes through with excellent fidelity. Kino Lorber has done a really nice job with the sound for this one. There are optional English subtitles provided.

Special Features

• Trailer: The two-minute trailer for the film is provided here.

Final Thoughts

The Invisible Fight is a very creative movie that has a wild premise that is not quite as entertaining in execution as it is in theory. There are intermittent moments that deliver the rock-and-roll martial arts extravaganza that one craves, but the movie is somewhat erratic in its pacing, leaving some jokes feeling drawn out more than they should be. The movie is still very fun, but it does not quite reach its promise. Nevertheless, for the sheer ambition of the effort, it is more than worth a look for those on the fence. Kino Lorber has provided a Blu-Ray featuring a terrific A/V presentation but not much in the way of special features.

The Invisible Fight is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray, DVD, and Digital.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Kino Lorber has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.