In 1990, a penniless Tsui Hark met with a pre-fame Jet Li in Los Angeles and together they imagined a reimagining of the Wong Fei-hung legend set in present day San Francisco.

"The Master" might have worked had Tsui been after anything other than a paycheck. A lack of effort is visible on all major fronts: Tsui's direction is lazy, the production values are cheap, Yuen Wah and Brandy Yuen call the shots on cut-rate choreography, and the cast -- which includes Jerry Trimble, Billy Blanks and a half dozen other z grade Western actors -- is atrocious.

Golden Harvest ultimately decided to sit on "The Master" until the studio reteamed with the duo for the "Once Upon a Time in China" series a largely successful revival of the Wong Fei-hung serials that returned the patriot to his cinematic roots and helped rejuvenate the martial arts genre in Hong Kong.