Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2013

Robert Diggs (aka RZA) has loved those cheesy “wuxia” martial arts movies since he was a kid, and has long been collecting ideas for this ridiculous yet sporadically enjoyable homage/sendup pastiche. The production values are high, and he got Russell Crowe to play the sex-hound Jack Knife, and Lucy Liu to do Madam Blossom, a, well, madam. His biggest misstep (of several) is casting himself in the title role. Loved the warrior hookers, hated the gangsta rap soundtrack. It’s a good bad movie, literally visceral, exhausting yet endearing, and best enjoyed by fans of the genre who have been drinking.