If only I were alive in 1975 to enjoy classic grind-house cinema like "Infra-Man." Quentin Tarantino has yet to serve up the goods, if any, on this classic martial arts/superhero epic. I remember "Infra-Man" quite fondly, if not a little blankly, from my childhood growing up during the early 1990s. I was heavily into my phase of "Bang, bang, shoot-'em-up, G.I. Joe, martial arts, comic books, and outer-space monsters" at that time. "Infra-Man" and Godzilla were probably the cornerstone of my childhood at that point. "Infra-Man" is the Chinese answer to "Ultraman"; an A.D.D. fusion of that Japanese "Ultraman," Hong Kong kick-'em-up, Bruceploitation and straight-up Shaw Brothers-style kung-fu, the evil Princess Dragon Mom (Terry Liu) awakens from a billion-year slumber to conquer the world. She reawakens her army of mutant super-soldiers and unleashes them upon an unsuspecting populace. A brilliant scientist devises a plan to transform a brave astronaut into the first "Infra-Man," a bionic superhero who possesses the necessary strength and weaponry to conquer Princess Dragon Mom and her cohorts. "Infra-Man" is a unique title of unrepentant cheesiness, bad dubbing (is there any else?), and sci-fi kung-fu kick-'em-up. I wouldn't recommend this title to anyone who can't sit through cheesy late-night fanfare. For all its frenetic action sequences, director Shan Hua keeps a tight pace and never lets things slow down once they begin. In my view, they don't really get any better than this. I would suspect that soon a remake on a bigger budget and with better effects is on the horizon. I'm not really looking forward to something like that; it'll just take away all the campy fun and that's something we desperately need from "Infra-Man."
10/10
10/10