I certainly wasn't disappointed. There were moments of sheer directorial brilliance. The cast is top notch. The story and characters are interesting. The characters, two peasant couples in a war-ravaged land, seem to spend the length of the movie making the worst choices possible; usually out of various forms of greed. The tension isn't about "will they run into trouble" but "when" and "how much."

This is what I call a "film school" movie. It's something that could be played for budding directors who could dwell endlessly on the minutia of long takes, lighting, composition, etc. This isn't a bad thing, per se, but don't expect an action movie. Ugetsu is great at period drama and social commentary but not a single car explodes nor are any young martial-artists trained to avenge their sifu.

I had calibrated my expectations low enough for a movie "inspired" by a video game but, man, what a crapfest. I really wanted to like it, if only for Sammo and Yuen Biao, but I couldn't do it. The special effects were neither special nor effective. For example: in one scene a kid holds up his fist with thumb at his ear and his pinky extended to his mouth to answer the phone. 'Cause, you know, in the future your cell phone with be an Avenging Fist Phone with optional pinky boom-mic attachment. That’s not futuristic; that’s extremely lazy filmmaking. There were other effects that tried to simulate Amime and Video game fighting. These failed.

But what about the story, you ask? Don’t ask. If there was one, it sucked. Acting? Yep, there some acting happening. Martial Arts? Um, see “special effects” above. The one thing promised that was delivered is that most of the cast (Sammo and Yuen excluded) are both young and hip. Yep, very hip. And pretty too; all the boys and girls are pretty. If you want hip and pretty, I suggest downloading JPop videos from the web instead.

One final thought: You might be thinking that any film with “Avenging Fist Finger Phones” must fall into the category of so-bad-it's-good. Feel free to apply generous doses of alcohol and see if you can find some enjoyment in this mess. Personally, the director seemed to just suck all the joy out of the film (maybe in an attempt to make a kung-fu "Blade Runner"?) that I couldn’t enjoy it on any level.

All these shinobi-shenanigans are just the back-drop in a movie that's–really--about the ancient duel between the best of swordsmen of China and Japan. “Duel to the Death” traverses the border-conflicts near the territories of Family, Friendship, Love, and Honor. These abstract concepts are illuminated by the words and actions of our heroes.

Fights are plenty and skillfully blended with the human drama, treachery and tragedy that abound. The final battle is a bloody mess of wondrous wuxia. Don’t say I’m spoiling anything here; they didn’t call it “Duel to the Point-Where-Everyone-Just-Agrees-to-Disagree.”

This is not only a movie that stands up to multiple viewings, it demands them. If you don't own this, order it now. Seriously.

I am so glad I bought this though (and that it was so cheap)! I can't wait to inflict this on my friends! Just think of the drinking games:

• Drink when you see insanely bad CG,
• Drink when you see thieves crack a safe in a 4-foot-deep pool without coming up for air for five minutes,
• Drink when the actresses look hot (strike that, you'll die of alcohol poisoning),
• Drink when people and vehicles are drastically under-cranked (in funny key-stone cops’ fast-motion),
• Drink when you feel bad about ogling the hot actresses when the masturbating rapist is on screen,
• Drink when actresses turn into skinny stunt men,
• Drink when dead henchmen come back to life to die in later scenes,
• Drink when English is used intermittently by anyone (Drink twice when the subs don’t match the spoken English),
• And finally, for the Designated Driver, drink when you see any female nudity.