Revenge of the Ninja
"Only a ninja can stop a ninja." - Cho
release year: 1983
genre: ninja action
viewing setting: home Bluray 1/8/22 and home DVD 9/10/14 and 4/4/09 and 1/27/04
synopsis: A Japanese ex-ninja starts a business in America, but must contend with drug smugglers and a secret evil ninja.
impressions: Pretty good martial arts movie. It had a lot of sword/weapon fights as well as hand-to-hand combat. There was a little ninja cheese: smoke bombs that make a tiny amount of smoke yet allow someone to vanish, flamethrowing ninja, and my favorite, a full-size wooden dummy used as a decoy (surely _that_ didn't fit into the ninja's briefcase which we saw him packing before the mission.) Such incidents, especially that last one, make me fully realize that in 1983, there were writers who sat around saying things like "well, let's just put that in, nobody will question it." Well, I did. Another thing: the main protagonist is wearing black eyeliner when in ninja garb. Yet another thing: the evil ninja has a maniacal menacing laugh that he uses when taunting people.
things to watch for: The fight behind the store, the fight at the playground, or the invasion of the building at the end.
something this movie has that no other movie has: A ninja grandmother!
acting: Sho Kosugi did a pretty good job as a fish out of water. His real-life son, Kane, was outstanding as a 7-year-old kid who knew his martial arts. Arthur Roberts made a nasty businessman with a secret.
final word: Among the most popular, and most entertaining, of the wave of ninja movies in the 1980s.
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