"The Wandering Monk,... he's a wanderin' man."

"He can fight,... ya' know he can."

"He stands for good,... all across the land."

"Oh, he can fight,... oh, yes he can."

"Wanderin'! (whip crack)"

"Fightin'! (whip crack)"

"Fightin' and wanderin'."

"You evildoers best bewaaaaaare!"

"(whip crack) Wanderin'!"

This is level your mind sinks too when staring at another lackluster Taiwanese kung fu film. Granted, kung fu films are my cup of tea, be they cheap, expensive, no name, or star powered. But, maybe it is the rash of HK classic Shaw Bros releases I've been devouring lately, I just wasn't in the mood for a full-screen tape transfer of a mediocre kung fu film.

The wandering monk (Lee Bing-hung) leaves his temple and begins a sort of walkabout with his enlightened mind and accomplished kung fu skills. He happens upon a scrappy orphan (one of the late70's/early 80's kung fu trends, the cute kid kung fu film), whose father was murdered and his mother was put into prostitution. The man behind this villainy (Choi Wang) is the leader of The Yin-Yang Sect, and the boy teams up with the monk and some others in taking the sect leader out.

The film is very much in the Sleeping Fist vein, a wise ass kid paired with a martial master, sort of the chop socky equivalent to Chaplin's The Kid. Aside from Choi Wang's turn as the appropriately garish villain, there really isn't much to applaud. Our two central leads, the monk and the kid, are quite dull. The kid doesn't comically mug very convincingly so all of his antics become more grating than usual for this kind of overly zealous child performance. Lee Bing-hung hasn't got the star power charisma the role needs, and as a martial performer, he doesn't look too powerful. But, really, none of the choreography is very striking, so his lacking was probably the productions fault.

The DVD: Crash

Picture: Full-screen, seriously cropped, obviously taken from a tape transfer. The print is in terrible shape. The faded colors and amount of noise make it appear like an EP vhs left in a boiler room for a few years. I really cannot think of one positive merit, on all accounts, grain, color, contrast, sharpness, it gets a thumbs down. Sure, its hard to track down good prints of older Asian indie/cheapie cinema, but this still is barely tolerable (and is only tolerable when the film is entertaining enough to make you have a kinder eye).

Sound: Scratchy, Mono, English dub. Same as above, worn out, muffled, though not so heavily distorted that the dialogue becomes unclear.

Extras: Chapter and Fight Scene Selections— Crash release trailers.

Conclusion: File this one under "forgettable." The transfer isn't likely to win anyone over, even less so the film itself.