I recall this
consistently being one of the empty video boxes in the action section of
the rental stores. Sitting there among all the other B action films; the
Chuck Norris, the Missing in Action type films, Bloodsport and dubbed kung
fu films. I always passed it by until now. I thought why not. It was apparently
an important film for Cannon and for the rush of Ninja films that came after
it. And there is practically no such thing as a bad Ninja movie. At least
in my experience. Now of course, sixty years later there is the expected
cacophony of complaints that the Ninja hero is white and that this is cultural
appropriation. Virtue signaling. First, the white Ninja is played by the
very cool Franco Nero and I am just curious, if Japan makes a Star Wars knockoff,
does anyone call it cultural appropriation. I wish we could retire that term
and just admit everyone borrows from everyone.
Putting aside that Nero was no martial artist
and the plot fits on a postage stamp, this is decent fun. A surprising amount
of action, very little down time and it feels to me in retrospect that there
was a lot of graphic violence for the time. I could be wrong. But all those
Ninja weapons are put to good use in killing people. Stars to the head, darts
to the chest, swords through the stomach, breaking necks etc. A lot of folks
are killed here. Mainly minions. To the point where I felt sorry for them.
They are working for a shit salary - this being the Philippines - just doing
their humdrum security job and they get killed by a Ninja. I would be, fuck,
I didn't expect to get killed by a Ninja today.
The film opens with Nero being hunted by
a pack of Ninjas. Him in a white Ninja outfit (in case you don't know who
the good guy is), the hunters in red and their leader in black. He fights
his way through them, killing one after another until he makes it to his
target and cuts off the head of the Master. But it is only the graduation
exam. He passes, angering the Ninja in black, Sho Kosugi, who also feels
like it is cultural appropriation. Nero leaves to visit his old army buddy,
Alex Courtney, who has a plantation outside of Manila. His wife is played
by Susan George who is allergic to bras. Alex has fallen on hard or in this
case not so hard times. He is impotent and there is his The Postman Always
Knocks Twice wife. They show a cock fight, but that isn't the real one.
The couple are being harassed by people
working for Christopher George who is surrounded by a bunch of sycophants
at his office. It is like a Trump Cabinet meeting. You are right sir. You
are great sir. There is a pool filled with young jailbait girls doing synchronized
swimming. He gives one of the most over baked bad performances ever. Is he
always this terrible? When his guy with the hook for a hand (Zachy Noy) can't
beat Nero, he sends for a Ninja through Ninjas are Us. You can guess who
shows up. This made Kosugi a star, not so much for the action in the film,
but for his dazzling Ninja weapon display during the opening credits. He
was to appear in the second and third film in the trilogy. It is fun watching
Nero knock off all these folks Ninja style, but some of the deaths are close
to laughable - the guy with the arrow through his arm feels right out of
Monty Python.
