Why so much hype?

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This movie takes place in a mythical world in which certain warriors fight for the honor to face a man known as "Zetan" (played by Christopher Lee) in order to obtain a mysterious "Book of Enlightenment" that he keeps under his personal protection. That being said, having fought and been disqualified in a contest to be allowed to find and defeat Zetan, a warrior named "Cord" (Jeff Cooper) sets off on his own and subsequently encounters several trials which serve as lessons that mold him into a better fighter and a more enlightened person as well. Now, from what I understand, this movie was influenced by Bruce Lee with the intention of blending martial arts and Zen Buddhism together. And while it certainly offers some interesting insights and showcases some beautiful scenery, the film as a whole didn't necessarily impress me all that much. For starters, although it certainly had some good actors, none of them performed that spectacularly. On that note, I didn't much care for the acting of Jeff Cooper and I thought that the limited role given to Eli Wallach (as "the Man in Oil") was a big waste of talent. In addition to that, despite the good cast, I thought that the "lessons" conveyed lacked both depth and any real meaning which caused the film to suffer as a result. In short, I don't consider this to be a good movie by any means and I have rated it accordingly. Below average.

I can't really add much to this movie that others have already discussed in detail. This movie just happen to catch my eye on netflix . I am often willing to give odd or forgotten movies a chance hoping to see something original and worth while. I have no former knowledge of this movie and its relation to Bruce lee , so that's not even a factor as to why I watched it, so I'm strictly reviewing without any bias towards that . I do like some martial arts movies but I'm not a huge fan of the genre.For this being a martial arts movie though , it did lack in this area greatly. Not in quantity ,but quality. They could have found some "real" M.A. Who were willing to be apart of this movie . Instead of the clowns they hired.,I did dig the whole philosophical side of the movie . I know little to nothing on eastern or zen philosophy , but was interesting to listen to . To sum up the movie into what made it a 5 star "watchable" movie was its weak choreography in M.A. ,cheap costume design and shallow creativity.

The main character Cord played by Jeff Cooper seems to be playing the same part he played in many late seventies and eighties TV shows "a guy who just dashed out of a hairdressers and is trying to find his Porsche". David Carradine seems to be trying to do a Peter Sellers, playing multi characters. What used to be his signature slow motion kung-fu, in this, seems to be the actual speed he moves at. The philosophy seems to be out of a box of cheap fortune cookies. The Israel locations do add a bit to this, but overall a fairly bad movie. If only Bruce Lee had made this the martial arts certainly would have been much better.

I watched this on DVD and all in all, it is fun. The scene of Erica Cree being crucified at the top of a dune is really unforgettable. too bad she doesn't seem to be very successful in her acting career.The film also includes some oriental philosophy but they do not go really deep enough. For example, the comment by the hero that it was really by his hands that crucifed Tara (the girl played by Erica) was some kind of enlightenment but that did not address to the reason why she had to be sacrified. After all she was requested by the hero and her husband and consented her to offer herself for the night. And when everything was settled, the ultimate prize was a mirror at which one could look at oneself. Well, that is OK but one cannot help but to ask why all these troubles (and loss of life).