Agh! What a badly done film this is.  From a writer's view it's a nightmare.  From a stylistic view it's flat.  From a technical view its pitiful.  From an ignorant audience view it's dull.

The gigantic flashback in the middle is just bad from any view.  The end with the flying down the mountain is just pathetic and insulting to the legend.  The flying stunts suck!  The weapons work is only okay.  The martial arts were okay.  I've seen everything done better many places.  As TV Guide said we've seen better FX on each and every episode of Xena.

The pin wheeling not touching edges they were supposed to have pushed off of jumping/flying was utterly pathetic.  They could have at least attempted to give it a dreamy look to cover for it.  Instead it just looks like a bad stage theatre's wire work.

As for locations they are good, maybe above average.  The music score is unremarkable.  The acting is fair to good although I have heard complaints about the dialect being spoken too "softly".  The historical backdrop is interesting but does not make up for the slow pace of much of the film.

To be fair I watched it a day and half after Drunken Master.  Xena is better but probably has a bigger budget.  Also I've seen two of the "Samurai Trilogy" about Musashi Miyamoto the greatest samurai to ever live (according to the films) and it had truly amazing weapon play in it.  But that flashback in Crouching I can't forgive for anything.  I do not suggest this film for anybody.

( Thank you for reading my review.
Bob Male)

All ideas, opinions, and information are from the reviewer and are not representative of any company or group involved with the creators and/or staff of the materials being reviewed.