Search - Undefeatable on DVD

"I want to warn you - this isn't going to be easy."

Mike Schorn | APO, AE United States | 06/26/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Thanks to the internet, a little-known martial arts flick from 1993 gained widespread publicity as one of the most unintentionally funny things ever put to celluloid, but most people who mention "Undefeatable" really have no idea what they're talking about. Most folks who LOL it haven't seen a Cynthia Rothrock movie before, much less anything directed by Godfrey Ho, and can't describe anything about the movie beyond that single silly fight scene. Granted, the film doesn't exactly have universal appeal, but apprehensive fans ought to know that, for all of its flaws, "Undefeatable" is actually one of the more entertaining offerings from this stage of Rothrock's career.



The story: when his wife leaves him, abusive and psychologically-disturbed fighter Stingray (Don Niam, Baja Run) goes on a murder spree targeting every woman who resembles his departed woman. When the sister of a notorious female gang member (Rothrock, Above the Law) becomes one of his victims, she and a righteous policeman (John Miller) scour the city's underground fighting locales to find him.



The film's style is a continuation of Honor & Glory, a previous Rothrock/Godfrey collaboration that featured many of the same cast and crew members. Believe it or not, that one outdoes "Undefeatable" for all-around goofiness, but both are actually among the more sound offerings of director Ho. All the people out there proclaiming this to be the worst movie ever obviously haven't looked into the man's earlier filmography, for even though this one features overacting galore, iffy production values, plenty of silly situations (e.g. kidnapped Donna Miller tries to escape Stingray by pretending to be mother) and a general low-budget feel, at least all of its scenes were filmed specifically for this movie and the characters' dialogue wasn't decided during post-production and implemented via voiceovers. It never had a chance at any awards, but for a Hong Kong movie co-written by someone who probably doesn't understand English (Tai Yim) and filmed in America by a Mandarin director, it really doesn't look too bad.



There are ten pretty decent fights to be seen, but with the exception of the final two, they're all rather short and don't feature any established talent besides Cynthia and John Miller. Luckily, most of them are still fun to watch thanks to their indulgence in absurdity, like when Cynthia battles a fellow in football gear for money and later an eagle claw master (wearing clawed gloves, no less) on top of some barrels. Her solo faceoff against Stingray may actually be the best fight of the film: though it includes a silly slow-motion shot of a snowfall of packing peanuts, she gets to wield her favored hook swords and duel with a katana-wielding Don Niam. Niam seems like a good martial artist but his movements are too stiff to be taken seriously...and that's before his physical stuff takes a backseat to his completely overblown facial expressions and gestures. The infamous final fight between Miller, Niam, and Rothrock is an inexplicable drop in quality: I can only assume that ol' Godfrey was tired of holding back and just cut loose for the film's final five minutes, demanding that Miller and Niam scream their lungs out while pantomiming their choreography up to the completely ludicrous finale. Miller and Niam rip their shirts off but apparently Cynthia wasn't allowed to. Shame.



It's great that this movie made it to wide-release DVD; it's definitely not the most dignified vehicle to do so, but with luck, its gravitating absurdity will draw in potential new fans to everybody involved. Rest assured, Cynthia Rothrock has done better (not so much Mr. Ho), but for anybody wanting a short break from her more serious work, this one makes for a fun 90 minutes of time-wasting."