Director Sngmoo Lee reboots the premise, from the '70s TV show Kung Fu, of a martial-arts master roaming the American West and jazzes it up with tons of computer-generated FX. But though the film oozes visual appeal (many action sequences are rendered with comic-book vibrancy), it's short on insight and long on cliché. Not the least stereotypical element is the reluctant hero of the title, though Korean heartthrob Dong-gun Jang is adequate in the role. We know he's good, because in a clan war back home he refused to kill the enemy's infant princess and instead has carted the neonate to the New World. There the pair land in a ghost town populated by misfits from a traveling circus who include Geoffrey Rush as the resident sot and Kate Bosworth as the potential love interest. Ninjas from afar and local marauders led by Danny Huston add to the warrior's woes, but his worst enemy proves to be the man behind the camera.
