Enter the Ninja (1981)

This movie is widely considered to be the one that popularized Ninjutsu during the 80s. It was actually the second major English-language Ninja film of the 80s as it was preceded by Chuck Norris' „Octagon"(1980). Several ninja movies were made after it. Prior to the film, judo films had been popular in the 50s; karate movies in the 60s and kung-fu pictures in the 70s.This is the first of three "Ninja" movies in Cannon's Ninja series. The second and third films were "Revenge of the ninja" (1983) and "Ninja III: The Domination" (1984). Both sequels were unrelated in terms of story. Cannon also went on to make "American ninja" (1985) which spawned its own franchise (5 movies).This movie is important for one more reason. It's first major role in an English-language film for Shô Kosugi, an actual ninja practitioner who was also the movie's technical adviser and fight co-coordinator. Kosugi starred in numerous other 80s ninja movies and appeared in each of this film's sequels but playing different characters.The film's title was chosen because it was thought that it would connect and cash-in on the popularity of the earlier martial-arts box-office hit „Enter the dragon"(1973). Publicity for the film explained that Ninjutsu was "the art of invisibility". The martial art is also known as Ninpo and Ninjitsu-Ryu. Ninjas are seen in this movie with a full wardrobe of attachments and weapons. These often included a blow-gun, bola (manriki), bow & arrow, nunchaku (nunchuks), sai, shinobi-gatana, shiroken, spear-staff and tonfa.The movie is often widely believed to have been totally shot in the Phillipines, bit some of it was also shot in Japan. There is no spoken dialog in the first 10 minutes of the film. The first 15 minutes of the movie is objectively really good and the best part of the movie.If you're expecting good movie , you will be disappointed. The acting is wooden, the humor flat and everyone dies dramatically. The characters are paper thin. The plot don't make sense in some places ( What war are the characters talking about ?) If you're a fan of ninja movies this is a must see. If you're a fan of "so bad , it's good" movies you NEED to see this. It's comedy gold.Franco Nero ("Django") is the star of the movie. Since had no martial arts training he was doubled by writer and fight choreographer Mike Stone for the fight sequences. It's terribly obvious , because most of the fight scenes shown main hero's back while fighting. Nero himself has no charisma or talent . The best thing about him is his mustache.You GOTTA love the over the top sound effects. When somebody shots an arrow or throws the sound is of laser shooting ! There is evil guy nicknamed "The Hook" , because he … has a hook ! "Let's have a cock fight !" , "Hang on ". Christopher George is brilliantly overacting and his death scene is THE BEST EVER.If you can't spend an evening laughing wildly at this , well , then there is something wrong with your sense of humor. Watch out for Michael Dudikoff (the future star of "American ninja") as one of the Venarius men. I give it 2/10.

Steaming pile of....Well you get it.. the acting is horrid.. in the same class as Plan 9..The martial arts are so pathetic a typical karate class white belt would kick the crap out of the stars..Fake weapons.. etc etc etc GG ought to be beyond ashamed at actually making this.It makes Dolph's acting look good and believable!....(I am a 2nd BB in TKD btw... and I can in an expert opinion say this was beyond POOP.. and NO I'm not a "young punk" used to more modern movies either.)

"Enter the Ninja" is the first of the trilogy.The other two are Sam Firstenberg's "Revenge of The Ninja", and "Ninja III: The Domination".Franco Nero plays white ninja and Sho Kosugi plays black ninja.Nero is helping a husband and wife try to stop the trouble gangs are causing where they live(in Phillipines)."Enter the Ninja" is a very cheesy martial arts flick with plenty of bloody violence.The weapons of ninja include sai,shinobi-gatana,tonfa,nunchaku,manriki,blowgun,shiroken,bow and arrow and spear-staff.The use of smoke bombs is also quite effective.Despite the violence the film is often light-hearted and quite humorous.The final showdown between Nero and Kosugi is truly memorable.7 ninjas out of 10.

Cole (Nero) is a macho, mustachioed man who trains at a ninja school to master the art of Ninjitsu. Upon completing his studies, his rival, Hasegawa (Kosugi), presumably because Cole is a white Westerner, screams "He is not a ninja!" and storms off. Undaunted, Cole travels to the Philippines to visit his old army buddy Frank (Courtney) and his wife Mary Ann (George). They have a lot of property there and they while away the hours enjoying cockfights with their poor laborers.As it turns out, the sinister, "Mr. Big"-type villain, Mr. Venarius (Christopher George, no relation to Susan) wants their land. His henchmen, Mr. Parker (Gregory) and the memorable Siegfried "The Hook" Schultz (Noy) are ineffectual in securing Frank's property for their own evil ends, so Venarius commands an army of white-suited baddies to take it. But they didn't count on one thing: Cole and his newly-minted Ninjitsu skills! Additionally, Cole's old nemesis Hasegawa is on the loose and Cole must deal with that. Will the power of Ninjitsu prevail for the good guys? Not only did Cannon films and Sho Kosugi lead the pack during the ninja boom of the 80's, they actually kicked it off with this, their first "ninja" film back in '81. Let's remember that besides the Sho movies, Cannon also gave us the American Ninja titles as well as movies such as Ninja III: The Domination (1984). Smartly, the main hero role is played by a man who was an established star, at least in many territories around the world: Franco Nero. It may seem weird that Sho has a secondary role as Cole's rival ninja, especially when most of the film's running time is devoted to "Nero-Fu", but this was a proving ground for Kosugi, who after this ruled the ninja film world.However, the opening titles sequence does have Sho, well, "showing" off his array of ninja moves and weaponry. Unfortunately, there's no opening or closing credits song. The beginning and end of the movie deliver the ninja goods, but it's what's in the middle that lags. Yes, there is a lot of cool and bloody ninja violence, but the audience is not emotionally invested in the Cole character as portrayed by the dubbed-by-someone-else Nero. (Also I should mention that the "bad" ninja, Hasegawa wears a black outfit, the white guy, Cole, wears a white outfit, and there are some red ninjas as well. Could this be ninja profiling?) The characters of Dollars (Hare) and the aforementioned hook-handed Siegfried add color to the proceedings, and Christopher George camps it up as an over the top baddie, but the movie is just too long at 104 minutes.While Enter The Ninja is classified rightly as one of the premier ninja movies, its slow pace is a hindrance and most of the film is a run-of-the-mill actioner - one that should have been trimmed down to at least 90 minutes. It has silly, Scooby-Doo-like musical stings, and despite the presence of people like Susan George, who we always love seeing, it's hard to become invested. However, it is very well-shot and the Philippines locations look beautiful.Like certain TV shows when you compare the first season to later seasons when the show hits its stride, such as The Simpsons or South Park, this pioneering Ninja Boom entry is not a bad film, but, for the ninja film fanatic, the best was yet to come...For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com