Revenge of the Ninja (1983)

The Cannon Group made all kinds of cult and art-house films during the 1980's, they were ether great or terrible but were remembered mostly watched in theaters or on video. Their action-genre films were always the best to watch because sometimes it would feature some top notch action stars such as Chuck Norris and Jean Claude Van Damme, but the first of those stars who had it big during The Cannon Group entering that decade was Sho Kosugi when he co-starred in the 1981 ninja flick Enter the Ninja (also starring Franco Nero). Then came two more so-called sequel afterwards for which he starred in again. And comes to the beginning of my review for seeing one of those three: Revenge of the Ninja (1983). This film was supposed to take place after Enter the Ninja, and deals with a Ninja who has been offered to open up a new art museum in the United States as he gives up his career as ninja after witnessing a clan slaughtering his family but things start get brutal when another ninja starts killing others and a heroin- dealing mob is stirring up trouble for the original ninja & his family. It has lots of good non-stop (& bloody at times) action from start to finish, done the the 1980's way by The Cannon Group. Kosugi even does his own ninjitsu himself along with his son, Kane. What is odd about this film is that this "another ninja" is revealed too early after getting into like the first 25 to 30 minutes into the film, but I won't spoil the whole picture anyway. But still all I have to say about this underrated action hit is a butt-kicking good time and never gets dull once it starts. I recall my father used to own this on VHS by the time I was just an infant, and now here I am as a grownup watching it for the first time & I truly love it. I do still need to see the other two, which are both Enter the Ninja & Ninja III: The Domination (1984). Watch this cult gem from The Cannon Group today if you enjoy watching good martial arts flicks since they hardly make films like this any more.My Rating: 5/5

Martial arts icon Sho Kosugi plays Cho Osaki, a Japanese man whose family is brutally obliterated by a troupe of evil ninjas. Realizing that a fresh start may be good for him, he accepts the offer from associate Braden (Arthur Roberts) to come and live in America and be Bradens' business partner. Braden, however, turns out to be a drug smuggling, evil son of a bitch who is also schooled in the ways of the ninja. Refusing to cooperate with local police (for whatever reason), Cho must soon come to the rescue of his son Kane (played by Kosugis' real-life son Kane) when the child is witness to a killing.Director Sam Firstenberg began his career in action films with this agreeable bit of action packed nonsense. He may have been a newcomer to the action genre at the time, but was wise to surround himself with people who knew what they were doing; in addition to star and fight choreographer Kosugi, notable crew include stunt coordinator Steve Lambert (who shows up on screen as the cowboy goon). Competently executed (if not particularly well written), "Revenge of the Ninja" benefits from a very tongue in cheek approach. There are some pretty dopey moments throughout, especially when Chos' friend Cathy (sexy blonde Ashley Ferrare) actually goes to battle with young Kane! There are some delightfully gory (and hilarious) gags here and there when various morons fall victim to ninja weapons. Firstenberg, Kosugi, Lambert and company get down to business very quickly, with their first major set piece taking place just minutes into the movie.The acting, for the most part, could charitably be described as not so hot, but that doesn't mean that the characters aren't engaging or entertaining in their own way. Kosugi is a stubborn hero, Roberts an amusing bad guy. Familiar faces in small roles include John LaMotta, Professor Toru Tanaka, and Don Shanks.The undeniable highlight is the final, extended rooftop battle between Osaki and Braden. Our villain sure shows some real ingenuity at times!Seven out of 10.

My friend's quote is that this movie is funny, but not for the right reasons. There is no date on the cover of this video, but we assume that it is the early eighties, at the time when the ninja movies were popular. I will give a brief rundown on the movie and then consider what was so popular about ninja movies. Finally I will end with my opinion.A ninja in Japan is determined to live on his land and fight off all of those who wish to attack him, but an American wants him to come to LA to open up a gallery. At this time a whole heap of ninja attack and kill his family, all except his mother and child. He then decides to go to America. What we find out is that this American is an evil ninja and is using the gallery to smuggle in heroin, in fact I think the American sets up the battle at the Japanese's house to lure him to America. So they fight and the film ends.What is it about ninja films? Well, I guess in the western eyes we see the ninja as the mysterious and unbeatable assassin. There is something romantic about an assassin who uses tricks to get in and out of his missions and execute them with accuracy. We also see the ninja as being unbeatable, and as such we like to fantasise over this by watching the movies. The popularity seems to have died down now (probably because the 80's ninja movies were so bad) and thus we hardly see any of them anymore.I sort of snoozed through this movie as it was a bit pointless. The plot was quite clichéd and the acting was bad. On top of that the stunts weren't that well done. I do believe that I have seen far worse acting in even worse movies, so I guess I can't say anything else about this.

I can't say I remember too much about the film except it has all the normal ninja stereotypes in it with lots of blood. If that is what you want that is what you'll get. Don't get me wrong, when I watch a ninja movie I'm not looking for Shakespeare. I'm looking for sword slashing, shrunken throwing and bear claws to the face fun. And maybe a few heads getting lopped off. It is what it is. The cool thing is how movies can bring back memories and I remember going to the movies with my mom and older brother and somehow convincing her that this particular movie was the one we were going to see. I'm not sure why she agreed to it and I'm sure she regretted it afterward as she is a conservative Christian woman. I was only 10 at the time and whining like crazy for us to see it. LOL I guess she thought, "It's about ninjas, how bad could it be!?" WRONG! This was the first rated R movie I saw in fact. All I have to say this movie is part of my life narrative now. Thanks Mom. I still remember the ending, but I won't spoil it for you.I'm probably one of the few people who actually saw this in a theater.