Martial arts films have long been a favorite in minority communities in the United States -- it was their support of the genre at "grindhouse" cinemas in the 1970's that allowed these sorts of films to gain traction and show that there was an audience in the first place. Knowing this, producers have tried to merge the worlds together through the use of music stars in roles. Most of these results have been fair to middling -- just think of DMX in Cradle 2 the Grave and Exit Wounds -- but that hasn't stopped film-makers from trying to strike gold, as evidenced by 2012's Blood Money, a straight-to-DVD effort featuring the rapper Pitbull.

Well, "featuring" is probably too strong of a word, because Pitbull only appears in one scene, where he spouts off supposed bon mots like "the streets have ears", but thankfully refrains from shouting "dale" repeatedly while schilling crappy watered-down light beer. The film concentrates more on Zheng Liu, who the producers show they have big brass balls by proclaiming is the next Bruce Lee on the promotional materials. Honestly, judging from his efforts here, Zheng wouldn't even fill in the shoes of a Bruceploitation star like Bruce Leung. Though, in Zheng's defense, it is hard to judge his acting when all he does is smoke cigarettes and mutter the occasional half-baked tough guy-wannabe line, and it's tough to gauge his kung fu skills when the fights are done in two or three moves.

Kung fu movie icon Gordon Liu (star of The 36th Chamber of Shaolin among many other classics of the oldschool genre) also has high billing in the film's credits, but his role is little more of a glorified cameo as one of Zheng's former teachers. Part of the plot, which is far too muddled and confusing for what should be a straight-forward action film, concentrates on Zheng being a disgraced Shaolin monk who now pays the bills as a hitman. Anyway, Gordon comes on the screen, spouts a few words of fortune cookie wisdom, and then has a fifteen-second fight. It's fairly sad that roles like this will probably be among Gordon's last, as he was stricken by a stroke in 2012 and looks to be unable to return to film-making anytime soon, if ever.

Overall, despite its' flaws, Blood Money isn't awful. It fits in line with what you might expect from a cheap straight to video action picture. Namely, you're going to get an unoriginal story, wooden acting, and awful special effects. And in the area that usually elevates these sorts of B-movie releases -- the action -- the audience gets more of an appetizer than a full main course. Zheng Liu does look like he might have some sort of potential, but he's going to have to work with more polished or inventive directors if he ever hopes to get his career off of the ground.

RATING: 4.5