Shi ren guan shi ba qi

Taiwanese-based writer-producer-director Joseph Kuo (EIGHTEEN BRONZEMEN and its sequels) had a fondness for kung fu films that put their heroes-in-training through elaborate tests involving a series of chambers and corridors adorned with rigged traps and mechanical opponents. THE UNBEATEN 28 came somewhat late in the game and lacks some of the energy, visual imagination and narrative tension that distinguished so many of Kuo's earlier films.

Kuo's EIGHTEEN BRONZEMEN star, Carter Wong, is replaced here by Meng Fei (PRODIGAL BOXER) who is cast as Wu Shao Tung, the Wutang Clan heir who undergoes rigorous instruction by Master Yung (Jack Long of 7 GRANDMASTERS and BORN INVINCIBLE). The goal is to prepare the lad for a match with villain Yen Chan Tin (Mark Long, the "Ghost-Faced Killer" from MYSTERY OF CHESS BOXING/aka NINJA CHECKMATE), who'd killed Shao Tung's parents and Master Yung's wife and students.

Shao Tung's training starts at infancy (after Master Yung has rescued him and taken him into hiding). The bulk of the action focuses on Shao Tung's struggles to pass the test of 18 Obstacles at Tai Shin Temple. Many of the obstacles involve lumbering stone men who seem unbeatable until Shao Tung is able to find their weak spots. (The stone men replace the flashier mechanical gold men of the BRONZEMEN films, reflecting perhaps a reduction in budget.) He also has to fight a heavily made-up little madman who attacks in a variety of eccentric animal-based kung fu styles (bull, rooster, rat and monkey). Shao Tung's first two attempts to pass the test result in failure, but he later succeeds and, aided by Master Yung's daughter, Lin Erh (Jeannie Chang), goes on to fight Yen in a furious hand-to-hand battle in the Taiwanese countryside.

Other than a fight between Yen and Master Wu (Shao Tung's father) under the opening credits and the climactic battle with Yen at the end, there are no extended fights between enemies, so the training and testing scenes have to keep viewers interested for most of the film. Unfortunately, the stone men are not terribly exciting to watch and their obstacle scenes tend to slow down the already short (85-minute) film. There is a confrontation at the midway point between Jack Long and Mark Long, two of producer Kuo's most dependable kung fu stars, yet it is inexcusably short and anticlimactic. Meng Fei was good at playing callow young fighters forced to develop some wisdom and skill and he supplements his fighting displays with acrobatic flips. However, he lacks the strength and intensity that Carter Wong brought to these roles. Still, the final bout with Mark Long is well worth waiting for.

There is no 28 in the film, unbeaten or otherwise. There are 18 obstacles, according to the spoken dialogue in the English dub (although we don't see that many, unless they count each stone man encountered), so perhaps there was a mis-translation of 18 to 28 for the title or of 28 to 18 for the dialogue.

Wu Shao Tung is raised to be the leader of the Wu Tang clan, who previously have been defeated by the evil Yen Chan tin and his clan. He is taught roughly and is shown how to defeat the Unbeaten 18, a cave of treacherous traps. (a bad translation I feel), though we are only shown 11, including iron and stone men and a cross-dressing boy with some of the strangest animal styles ever (Ox, Rat and Chicken) who is shown to be 80 years old (!) Some great fight scenes make this a very fun, if goofy film. It's no Shaw Brothers epic, but it's certainly worth the $4 I paid, or even the $10 to $15 you may pay for a DVD. Just a fun film. Get this one or you're seriously missing out.

Another Taiwanese cheapie from director Joseph Kuo, and a follow-up to his 18 BRONZEMEN movies; this might as well be called 18 STONE MEN for all it has to do with the number '28', which must have been a mistake made when translating the title into English. Indeed it plays out almost exactly as a BRONZEMEN sequel, with a youthful and flexible hero forced to undergo some intense training in a temple packed with traps and tasks.

The plot is perfunctory at best and features the stoic Meng Fei as the hero. His character starts out as a kid, witnessing the massacre of his family, before growing up under the tutelage of a wise master played by Jack Long (of BORN INVINCIBLE fame). Long sees fit to instruct him in the ways of the aforementioned brutal temple test in which Fei battles ridiculous-looking stone men in a series of highly amusing moments.

At times this film feels very much like a kid's cartoon with lots of inconsequential and silly stuff padding out the narrative. There's a random interlude involving an effeminate man trapped in a well who turns out to be the master of the rat and snake style. Later Fei gets hold of an ancient text which teaches him more styles and some mad climbing skills. Eventually he battles Mark Long, who played the infamous 'Ghost Faced Killer' in MYSTERY OF CHESS BOXING, in a hilariously overblown fight that sees Fei cheating, a flying hat which doubles as a boomerang, and random inserts of toads. It's completely random and oddly entertaining in a completely trashy way.

I have a hard time believing this film was made by Joseph kuo. Clearly made towards the end of his career, this film is the least representative of his work i can think of. There are bits and pieces of film swept off the cutting room floor from kuo's magnificent '18 bronze men'. And some of the actors from that film have been hired for this, and some of the costumes have also been salvaged, to maintain the illusion of continuity. But the beauty, scope, and intrinsic dignity of that far superior film are completely missing here. The story is silly, and even allowing the bad dubbing, the dialog is silly, too. The kung-fu is mediocre. the camera-work and editing show neither taste nor skill; fortunately, the film moves along quickly enough to let the matter pass.

The film stars meng fei, and allowing that i have never been a fan of his, his performance here is perfunctory at best by any standards. And he was apparently at the end of his career, as well, because his face is puffy, he's out of shape, and on top of all this, he looks way too old to play the role he was given.

Really, i suggest that this is not a film by Joseph kuo, but a patch-job put together by a Taiwanese studio to cash in on the cult-status kuo had among 'fu film fans at the time.

Okay as a filler, but otherwise useless.

And, until further research proves otherwise, don't credit this - or blame this - on Joseph kuo.