When asked why the "golden age" of Hong Kong movies came to an end in the early 1990's, many experts (or so-called experts) will point to the oversaturation of the market as a major factor. 1992's Zen of Sword is a prime example of this. While there is nothing glaringly wrong with it, the film is decidedly generic in every way, coming off as a last gasp attempt to squeeze a few pennies out of an audience who were quickly growing tired of local productions after being hit for years with cheap pictures such as this.

Zen of Sword tells the tale of three warring kingdoms, who are vying for control of a magical jade pipe that supposedly will lead the way to the world's greatest treasure. The pipe is currently being held by a princess named Chun (Michelle Reis) who wanders into a rival kingdom and meets the dashing prince Hou (Lau Sek-Ming). The two begin a romance, but, of course, this doesn't sit well with other people in their respective kingdoms, especially Hou's evil aunt (Carina Lau), which leads to a deadly final confrontation.

This movie does have some positives going for it, mostly coming in the form of Carina Lau and Cynthia Khan, who plays Chun's bodyguard. Business picks up when they're on the screen, but, sadly their roles aren't meaty enough, and instead we're subjected to the Nytol-tinted thespianisms of Lau Sek-Ming, who looks dangerously close to nodding off during most of his screen time. The rest of the cast doesn't fare much better, with most of them coming off like they're simply going through the motions in order to wrap things up so that they can run to the closest 7-11 to cash their paycheck.

Also, Zen of Sword just doesn't look all that great. Obviously, this was made for a miniscule budget. However, Hong Kong movies have been getting the most out of less for decades, and Zen of Sword doesn't look like the film-makers were even trying. Matters aren't helped by the atrocious transfer on the Tai Seng DVD (which is the source used on Netflix's streaming service) but even if this movie was presented on a meticulously remastered Blu-ray, it could hide the fact that this is, from beginning to end, an average Hong Kong swordsplay picture that might make for some decent rainy day viewing material, but is nothing close to being anything rushing out to see.

RATING: 5