There is no denying that Valen is gorgeous to look at, but her acting range never extends much beyond a furrowed brow or a doe-eyed pout. She has an inexplicable trans-Atlantic accent for a girl who supposedly grew up in the bosom of a man who can barely get his lines out, and at no point do we believe her to be the naïve warrior she is purported to be. The intention was clearly to anchor the film around a gorgeous but deadly martial artiste who could break hearts and kick butt simultaneously, but while Valen has clearly had plenty of kung-fu and tai chi training, she is let down by sluggish and laborious choreography that makes her fight scenes look more like a self-defense demonstration than a highly-skilled fight to the death.