“The Last Ronin” is a derivative, dull and exeptionally slow martial arts variation of the Hero Wanders the Wasteland quest that we’ve seen in scores of martial arts sagas, Westerns and sci-fi over the centuries.

A man of violence meets a girl and her “delivery” to “The Wall” or someplace beyond it becomes his quest.

This time, the wasteland is in a post-Putin Russia. Because it’s not like the Russians needed a translation of Joseph Campbell’s “Hero of a Thousand Faces.” Vladimir Propp led the way and others were eager to join in boiling down the number of plots in all of fiction and folk tale tradition to just seven. Or maybe six.

Yuri Kolokolnikov has the title role, a guy who may not call himself a Ronin or even know that it means “wandering unemployed soldier/samurai.” He just dresses the part — all in black, samurai blade at the ready — walking the desert that’s all that remains of human civilization after climate change, famine and world war have turned the planet into Death Valley or something damned near like it.

The currency in this world of “The Laws of the Scorched Earth” is bullets. Very “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.” But our Ronin is impractical. The only firearm he carries is a vintage Colt .45.

Russia may have spent almost all of its 7.62 mm bullets, all its tanks and a generation of its youth trying to conquer Ukraine. But nobody and I mean NOBODY is going to have :45 caliber rounds any within walking distance of this tale.

But the blonde girl (Diana Enakaeva) has bullets. She can pay him to get her to The Market and on to The Wall, beyond the reach of The Commune she escaped from.

They must contend with crossbow-armed hunters, Ninjas of assorted agendas, a cannibalistic cult that gets high on mushrooms before flying into a fury and so on.

“Runners” dressed up in “Star Wars” Sandpeople cosplay costumes carry communications through this hellscape.

There’s this French-speaking king with a crown of ammo sitting on a throne made of AK47s who has a need for this blonde teen.

Kolokolnikov has a past and a future in film. An imposing, bald Russian hulk who can handle fight choreography? Get him on the phone, William Morris! Nobody else here makes much of an impression. Static scene after static scene makes it hard for Ms. Enakaeva and others to hide their boredom.

The settings are striking but flatly shot and blandly color-corrected. Characters slow-walk through most every scene, and the fights are nothing to brag about.

The “universe” depicted here is “Russian” in ways faintly racist and not exactly wholeheartedly anti-fascist.

The reason one makes mention of the fact that there are only so many “plots” to choose from is that every film or play or novel or TV series is a variation on a timeworn tale. As we’ve all absorbed scores of versions of every “plot,” a review becomes a simple compare-and-contrast exercise.

“The Last Ronin” compares to a lot of films with the same basic story and a nearly identical setting. It’s inferior to pretty much all of them.

But hell, with a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tale titled “The Last Ronin” due out at Christmas, why not contract for the title and stream it and hope for the best? That fans will think it’s a leaked copy of the latest TMNT tale?

Rating: Unrated, bloody violence

Cast: Diana Enakaeva, Yuri Kolokolnikov,
Daniil Vorobyov, Robert Yusupov and Yerden Telemissov

Credits: Scripted and directed by Max Shishkin. A Well Go USA release.

Running time: 1:55