Reared in his mountain hideaway, Tiger undergoes a rigorous training programme from his earliest years. It includes such kung fu standards as plunging his hands 'into hot sand until his fingers were the strength of tensile steel' (as the slightly portentous narrator describes), balancing and posing neatly on the rims of rice baskets, and having large weights thrown at his chest. The film suffers from the kind of dubbing painfully familiar to those who watch much of this genre. Voices sound like drunken uncles shouting in auntie's spare bedroom did them, while the enthusiasm of common sound effects (fists crunching against faces, rice sticks flailing air, and so forth) is betrayed by unusual inaccuracy. Fortunately, the ugliness of the dubbed sounds aside, the film gives little weight to the dialogue in the course of the plot, apart from carrying broad points.

Atrocious voicing aside, a lot of the weaknesses of the film can presumably be laid at the door of the writer-director-producer Joseph Kuo, an obscure figure who directed a number of such chop-socky fests until he disappeared from view in the 1980s. (The Unbeaten 28 is the penultimate film out of his 15 listed). Character development is peremptory, and there is no attempt to suggest that Tiger is anything more than a primed fighting machine, and no moments of quiet reflection or attempt to sustain a real love interest. Kuo is more interested in the mechanics of training, and it is this fascination that produces a series of set pieces in the centre third of his film, which make it so memorable.

The representation of martial ordeal is common in kung fu cinema, as it is only through such structured dedication and suffering that the adept find true enlightenment and triumph. By extension of this process, some films draw out this process to great, almost surreal, lengths where - as in 36th Chamber Of Shaolin (aka: Shao Lin san shih liu fang, 1978) for instance - the process of testing becomes, in effect, the point of the film itself. Kuo's film offers a sustained low budget variant on this theme. The now fully grown, and trained, Tiger sets off to T'ai Ching Temple to face an 18-strong martial obstacle course and gain possession of the prized kung fu manual.

What follows is worth the price of admission alone. Poor Tiger (who has to return to the Temple three times to complete his tour of the gruelling test circuit) faces by turn challenges such as: heavy bronze doors; a one-armed, giggling stone man; fighting statues; nunchuka attack; missile firing foil men; breath control; jumping skills, the fearsome '36 blows' ordeal from two monks, and (most amusingly) a 60-year-old fey fighter down a well. In the single most impressive sequence, Tiger battles a clutch of faceless stone men in a tight corridor, then a 'room of illusion' fluttering with red sheets - scenes of some flair, showing the imagination which Kuo was capable of.

After such struggles the final conflict is something of anticlimax. Tiger and his girl (Lisa Chang) naturally get to fight Yin in an outrageous battle, which involves flying hats, then him hanging upside down to fight from tree trunks. Although punched definitively in his weak spot, Yin finally retreats to his secret lair and, recalling the baroque travails of Tiger's obstacle course, employs a giant Buddha and a fire breathing stone dragon to try and subdue his pursuer.

Its technical shortcomings aside the vigorous naïveté of Kuo's film, ultimately, has an appeal that belays the harshly staged opening scenes. Once Tiger grows, and faces a succession of challenges, matters come alive. The result is great, undemanding fun, if no masterpiece. For elegance and fine cinematography, you'd be best directed to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; for a film in which the hero gets mugged by a statue, this is the one worth considering...

The leader of the Kong Tung clan is Yen Chan Ying (Mark Long), a ruthless warlord who is master of 26 styles which gives him a tremendous advantage over normal martial artists. One day a proud man dares to step forth and speak against Yen Chan Ying’s villainy. Sadly, the man’s fighting skills are not as immense as his bravery and he goes down to Yen Chan Ying like so many others before him. The man’s family members deliver his infant son to the nearby Abbot (O Yau Man) who in turn takes the baby to the well-to-do clan of Chen Yung (Jack Long), an honorable Kung Fu instructor who owes the baby’s father a debt of gratitude. The Abbot informs Chen Yung to raise the boy as a warrior to take revenge on his father’s killer, and hands him a special book to train him in the Iron Body style. One day while Chen Yung labors over the kids training, he leaves his family unprotected. This allows Yen Chan Ying to kill the rest of his clan. The obsessed Chen Yung now plans to use the kid, now called Tiger, to take revenge for not only himself, but Tiger’s father as well. The kid quickly grows into a young man who displays considerable invulnerability and martial arts abilities.

Chen Yung keeps training Tiger intensely until his 18th birthday, and all this hard work has left him cold. Tiger doesn’t have a normal life like most young men as he is constantly focused on Kung Fu. He winds up leaving Chen Young’s palace and exploring the life in the nearby village. Chen Yung’s daughter, Lin Erh (Jeannie Chang) follows him into the town. Meanwhile, Yen Chan Ying crosses paths with Chen Yung in the woods, and the two elders fight for supremecy. Yen Chan Ying kills his opponent and when Tiger hears about this, he promises to eliminate the killer of his adopted father. Lin Erh also pledges her life to seek justice for her father’s death. Tiger asks the Abbott for advice, and the Abbot sends him to Tai Shing Temple to seek out the legendary manual of Kung Fu. With it, his skills would even over power the great Yen Chan Ying. Inside the temple are numerous death traps and one must use their ingenuity and martial arts skills to make it through the maze-like interiors. No one has ever made it through the Tai Shing Temple alive. Tiger was trained since birth to become a super human fighting machine and he must use every skill that he has learned if he is to make it through this temple of doom and secure the mystical Kung Fu manual!

Joseph Kuo does it again and delivers another minor classic. Though not quite in the same league as his best films, THE EIGHTEEN BRONZEMEN, THE BLAZING TEMPLE, and BORN INVINCIBLE, the movie really pushes the envelope of the traditional martial arts pulp thriller. Though THE UNBEATEN 28 is plagued with some problems (which we’ll discuss later), the strengths surely outweigh the few weaknesses. Having absolute control over the production allowed Kuo free reign to bring his creative vision to the screen. Yes, THE UNBEATEN 28 is completely driven by the familiar revenge scenario (on numerous levels), but it’s the manner in which Kuo deftly handles the unfolding of the plot that impresses. Whereas in most films of this genre, the bulk of the movie is taken up by establishing the revenge motive, depicting acts of atrocity on the part of the villain, and the never-ending training sequences, Kuo addresses these nuances in the first five minutes. Then it’s into Kuo’s Tai Shing Shrine for some truly suspenseful events. In fact, most of THE UNBEATEN 28 takes place in this claustrophobic labyrinth where we witness Meng Fei coming to grips with his destiny by battling human foes and otherworldly creations. The film is basically a martial arts version of INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM, with some HOUSE OF TRAPS thrown in for good measure (only THE UNBEATEN 28 came before both those movies). Kuo veers off into fantasy territory more than once, but unlike many of his contemporaries, he can make the fantastical elements work, as anyone whose seen THE EIGHTEEN BRONZEMEN can attest.

Much of the success of the film falls into the shoulders of the cast who certainly deliver involving performances that match the drama in Joseph Kuo’s script. Meng Fei is better here than in similar roles of this time period like KUNG FU OF 8 DRUNKARDS, and his performance is much more reminiscent of his early Shaw Brothers days. Jack Long doesn’t fight much in THE UNBEATEN 28, but he sure gets to stretch his acting talents farther than ever before. Jeannie Chang gets dramatic in the last act and wants to interject herself into the Meng Fei vs. Mark Long rivalry. Speaking of Mark Long, the young actor/martial artist makes for a truly heinous miscreant that matches his own Ghost Faced Killer character for sheer villainy. Alas, as innovative as THE UNBEATEN 28 is, there are several elements worth mentioning that shoot it down. Most of Kuo’s early successes had a dead serious tone, and after the success of Jackie Chan’s DRUNKEN MASTER in 1978, Kuo quickly jumped on the Kung Fu comedy bandwagon. Thankfully, except for a few playful moments, the humor in THE UNBEATEN 28 is held in check. But there is a sequence in the movie where Meng Fei encounters an elderly master inside the temple who is depicted as an effeminate man, complete with rouge make-up on his cheeks. This comedic bit comes out of nowhere and fails to do anything other than hurt the momentum of this film. The Jack Long/Mark Long fight is way too short and is barely a minute long. Kuo really blew it by not having these two guys really go at it—especially after all the build up. Other weaknesses include some truly shoddy editing of the combat sequences, and some fight choreography that should not have been enhanced by over-cranking the film speed.