Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		3.0
Audio		2.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.0

My Samurai Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 28, 2019

There’s little doubt that My Samurai probably wants to trade on what was even in its early 90s theatrical and home video premieres a certain nostalgia for 1984’s The Karate Kid, but the fact that My Samurai was evidently actually filmed over a year before its 1992-93 releases (according to the IMDb) or even earlier than that (according to some less reliable online sources) may indicate the film was made specifically to cash in on then recent memories of The Karate Kid, instead of any lingering “afterglow”, so to speak. My Samurai is a weird offering in any case, lacking any real big name stars (albeit with a few noted names like Terry O’Quinn and Mako in supporting roles), something that may therefore give the performance side of things a “not ready for prime time” quality, at least at times.

Peter McCrea (John Kallo) has the bad fortune to see a body being dumped after a gangland murder that actually involves a corrupt cop, but he has the good fortune to have a martial arts mentor named Young Park (Julian Lee) upon whom he can call for support and, frankly, defense. My Samurai , after some brief set up, essentially becomes a “road picture” of sorts with Peter and Park on the run from a host of nefarious types, with a kind of weird subplot involving Peter's largely absent father (Terry O'Quinn),, who tasks his secretary (Lynne Hart) with looking after the kid while he's gone. Weirdly, there’s little of the “spiritual” side of things that Mr. Miyagi imparted to Daniel in The Karate Kid, with My Samurai content to roll out a series of battle scenes in lieu of any real attempts at character development.

My Samurai Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

My Samurai is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Rewind, an imprint of MVD Visual, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. While some aspects of this transfer look at least relatively decent, including elements of the palette like bright blues, the source looks fairly faded, skewed toward brown, and also appears to be a secondary element of some kind, as evidenced by a lack of clarity and some pretty noisy looking grain. Because of the fading, reds especially tend to tip toward orange quite a bit of the time, and some of the more dimly lit sequences look splotchy and near pixellated at times due to the almost swarm like grain field.

My Samurai Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

My Samurai is one of the very few (maybe the only, if my memory is serving me correctly, which it admittedly may not) MVD Rewind releases with some pretty underwhelming audio quality. I'm not sure what source was used, since this release doesn't offer the provenance of technical aspects, but this track is slathered in hiss and other noise, to the point that actual dialogue seems to be buried at times. Some aspects, like the synth laden score, can at least occasionally rise above the background (?) noise, but this is a curious sounding track that definitely could have used some significant restoration.

My Samurai Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview with Stars Julian Lee and Mark Steven Grove (1080p; 45:18)


• 'Watching My Scenes' with Actor Jim Turner (1080p; 23:58)


• Interview with Actor Christophe (1080p; 28:40)


• Photo Gallery (1080i) is authored without a timecode, but does advance automatically so have your Pause button on your remote handy if you want to linger on any given image.


• Julian Lee Personal Photo Gallery (1080i) is similarly authored, so, again, some may want easy access to their Pause buttons.


• Alternate Original VHS Cut (480i; 1:30:00)


• Trailers includes My Samurai (480i; 1:24), along with trailers for other MVD releases.

Additionally, the keepcase includes a folded mini-poster.

My Samurai Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I've frankly been kind of surprised at times to see how many people actually remember and are excited by the Blu-ray releases of any number of these cult outings that MVD Rewind has been "excavating", but I'd frankly be really surprised if there's a sizable contingent out there jonesin' for My Samurai. The film is pretty obviously a Karate Kid wannabe, but it's hampered by what was no doubt a miniscule budget and some less than effective writing and performances. Technical merits are spotty on this one, but as usual MVD Rewind has assembled some appealing supplements for those considering a purchase.