Kick the Psycho: Undefeatable (1993)

There’s a killer on the loose!

An undefeated blood sport champion with Mommy issues, Stingray (Don Niam) loses his mind when he loses Anna (Emille Davazac), the wife he’s abused. Seeking her out, he fixates on anyone with dark hair wearing a flower print dress, kills whomever she’s with, taking her to a place where he can torture and murder her as well.

On his trail is cop who kicks Nick DiMarco (John Miller) and his partner Mike (Gerald Klein). However, they are unable to find the killa, who uses a very specific method of martial arts claw attack to dispatch his enemies … generally after blinding them. Perhaps Ana’s shrink (and martial artist) Jennifer Simmons (Donna Jason) has the key to identifying the killer.

Unfortunately, Stingray draws unwanted attention when he fixates on Karen (Sunny David), the academic little sister of street fighter and former Red Dragon gang member Kristi Jones (Cynthia Rothrock). Kristi has been fighting other gang members for money, to put her sister through college. When the killer abducts Karen, Kristi gets invested in finding him and putting a stop to his ways … permanently.

However, when Kristi’s path crosses with Nick’s, sparks fly. Will they work together to put the crazy bad guy down before he kills, kills, kills again? Or will the inherent differences between cop and street fighter hamper the investigation? Godfrey Hall (aka, Hong Kong director Godfrey Ho) helms a high kicking, somewhat silly, and sometimes unsettling suspense thriller martial arts action flick with Undefeatable (1993).

Nobody but the trolliest of trolls will ever come away from a flick like Undefeatable and compliment it on the acting, the deep storytelling values, and the original twists and turns of the plot. This is a straight ahead, mostly linear action movie with some slasher type elements and baddie. The best actor on screen is Rothrock, who gets to show her chops during a tearful morgue scene. However, the reason we come here is to see how evil the baddie is and take no small amount of joy in seeing him get his head handed to him by the end of ninety minutes. It’s a movie with some nifty mise-en-scene, including a fish tank filled with fighting fish … and eyeballs. There’s a neat shot of a box or Dumpster in the middle of a warehouse with a victim (Jody Flaherty) stashed inside, only her legs poking out, awkwardly sporting a pair of black heels that’s both comic and eerie.

The picture has got some fun martial arts moments, a few bouts of character sparring, a romance angle that’s more chuckle-worthy than believable, and some moments of genuine, intentional comedy (thanks to Kristi’s fellow gang members and pals, played by Hang Yip Yim and Richard Yuen).

Still, it’s always a pleasure to see Rothrock showing off her skills. In addition to some black leather jacket bouts with opponents who dress like living Street Fighter video game characters (one dude even has gloves fitted with claws). She’s pretty much unstoppable, though not unbreakable. Fighting gives her bruises, cuts, and aches galore; Kristi has spirit and drive, however, and she’s not constrained by laws the same way that cop Nick is.

The villain is actually the first person we see, shaking with fury and looking utterly ludicrous while doing so, just before he lands the killer blows on his opponent (an unnamed Black MMA fighter who isn’t destined to survive the encounter, alas) in some smoky, underground arena. Actor Don Niam has got a baby face, kind of a visual reference to the choirboy looking Andrew Robinson who played the Zodiac-inspired killer in Dirty Harry (1971). The two actors are worlds different in terms of credibility, however. Niam can’t deliver lines that sound natural, unless he’s adopted a childish voice when talking to whatever Mommy who’s showed spine enough to give him pause and revert him to some young state of mind. Still, he has the look of lethality … sort of. He certainly licks blood off fingers or blade in a menacing way.

John Miller has a trustworthy look, which fits his cop role nicely. He’s fitted with bulky clothes that make him look overweight, so when he strips down for martial arts and reveals he’s muscled as all get out, it’s a pleasant surprise. Line delivery may not be his forte, but he delivers on the action scenes in pleasant ways.

Godfrey Ho is a director who’s known for working fast, getting his shots and moving on. He doesn’t seem to mind errors or occasional inclusions of crew or shadows. He’s here to put action on the screen on time and budget, and he does so. Cinephiles will find plenty to lampoon and complain about. However, there are some cool moments. Ho and cinematographer Philip J. Cook are adept at capturing the human body in motion, doing interesting things. So, there’s a backyard practice bout sequence where Rothrock shows off her ability with a pair of hook swords that’s impressive as hell. How do those blade crescents around the pommels never once get stuck in the lawn? Because skills! Does this scene need to be there, or be half as long as it is in terms of story? Nah. But it is cool to watch Rothrock—she was a martial arts champion with weapons, after all, she knows how to wield them and make them look good. The fight scenes are often surprisingly short for an action flick. Rothrock’s battles with street toughs to make money or get her answers are there, show off a few good moves, and then wrap up (often through interruption). The big showdown between Stingray and his pursuers lasts about as long as it ought, and it ends in a surprisingly gruesome but poetic way (YMMV on the effectiveness of the paired one-liners that follow his demise).

Where the movie loses some points with me in how easily and unnecessarily it presents some of its roughest moments.

For example, there’s a sexual assault early on, which is hard to watch. Perhaps not as unsettling or vomit-inducing as the lengthy assault in a flick like Irreversible (2002), but it’s effectively icky. Unsettling. Gross. And yet its biggest sin is how gratuitous it all is. This is there to make us hate the antagonist, and we do. This is not there to instigate Anna’s departure from the script—there are other, classier, simpler ways of shooting this. Some might argue the flick has taken a Drive-In approach to the material, establishing how eeeevil the man is and declaring no one to be safe, but I don’t buy that argument. Hated those minutes for being so flagrantly superfluous. There are plenty of other sexual assaults alluded to throughout the piece (the IMDB synopsis calls the Stingray character a martial arts rapist, after all) that show just enough to be unsettling, but they never quite spill over into the nastiness of that first one.

Aside from that seedier, sleazier angle to the flick, the rest is watchable and cheesy. An oh-so-90s aesthetic is present throughout. With Rothrock sporting a funky, almost goth punk look with her spiky bracelets and shoulder chain, she could have stepped right out of a Tim Bradstreet painting.

Undefeatable is not a movie to watch for its artistry or acting chops. It’s there to round out a rotten day, giving us a chance to see Cynthia Rothrock shine as bright as the sun while kicking much ass and taking plenty of names. While no one would call this a great movie, it’s certainly got high entertainment value both of the intentional and unintentional varieties. Trista and I watched it after a rough day, generally had a ball, and came out the other side smiling and chatting about this or that moment and this or that costume choice. So, win.

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Undefeatable is available in 4K UHD/Blu-ray combo and VOD editions.

Writing for “Kick the Psycho: Undefeatable” is copyright © 2023 by Daniel R. Robichaud.

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