If you were a boy of a certain age in the early 1980s, you probably had a thing for ninjas. For a brief period of time, ninjas seemed to be everywhere. They were in movies, TV series, cartoons, and video games. My brother had a pair of nunchucks. My cousins talked their dad into buying them some “authentic” throwing stars. We spent long summer nights pretending to be ninjas (and often injuring ourselves with those nunchucks and throwing stars). Ninjas were awesome.
Buy The Ninja TrilogyGround zero for that ninja craze was a series of three films put out by Cannon Films: Enter the Ninja (1981), Revenge of the Ninja (1983), and Ninja III: The Domination (1984). Enter the Ninja wasn’t the first American film to feature ninjas (The Killer Elite beat it by six years), but it entered the zeitgeist like nothing else had, and it became a staple for teenage boys across the country.
Kino Lorber has just released The Ninja Trilogy boxed set in 4K UHD. This is really only a trilogy in name only, as the films have absolutely nothing to do with one another. They do all feature Sho Kosugi as a ninja, but he’s a different character in each film, and the plots have no connection whatsoever. It is the rare trilogy in which the sequels are better than the original.
Enter the Ninja was originally set to star real-life martial artist Mike Stone (who also came up with the story), but in the early stages of filming, he was replaced with Italian screen legend Franco Nero. According to the audio commentary by Mike Leeder and Arne Venema included in this set, producer/director Menahem Golan gave Nero the part when he just happened to see the actor dining at a restaurant in Manila near where they were filming.
I’m a huge fan of Franco Nero, but he is extremely miscast here. He had absolutely no training in martial arts, did not have any time to prepare, and at 40 years of age, he was well past the time when he could fake the stunts this film requires. The fight scenes are, in a word, wooden.
He plays a guy named Cole, who, after fighting in a war (Wikipedia says it was the Namibian War of Independence, but I don’t recall it being mentioned in the film), goes to Japan and learns the way of the ninja. He then goes to the Philippines to visit his friend and fellow soldier Frank (Alex Courtney), and meets Frank’s wife, Mary-Ann (Susan George).
Frank is being harassed by a rich businessman named Charles Venarius (Charles George), who wants to buy Frank’s plantation. When Frank refuses, he keeps sending goons over to force him (including a ridiculous guy with a hook for a hand), but luckily, Frank has Cole and his ninja skills to help him (unlucky for Frank, his drinking has made him impotent, and Mary-Ann needs Cole’s sexy skills for some satisfaction). Eventually, Charles hires another ninja (played by Sho Kosugi) to even things out.
It all comes down to a final showdown that’s as shabbily executed as the rest of the film. After watching this film, I was quite downhearted at the thought of having to watch two more of these films. I don’t think I had ever seen any of the films before. I do remember seeing the VHS boxes at the local video store as a kid and dreaming of what awesomeness lay inside, but my memory says Mom never allowed me to actually rent them. With this film, those dreams were turned to utter disappointment. Luckily, the following sequels more than make up for it.
With Revenge of the Ninja, Sho Kosugi is moved to the starring role. He plays Cho Osaki, whose entire clan, save for his mother and young son, are slaughtered by a rival ninja clan. To protect his family, he moves to Los Angeles where he opens a Japanese art gallery with the help of his friend Braden (Arthur Roberts). Braden is kind enough to supply the art, which happens to be Japanese dolls that happen to be filled with heroin. Braden also just happens to be a ninja (who wears a cool silver dragon mask over his face to differentiate himself from Cho when both of them are wearing their black ninja pajamas).
Braden winds up kidnapping Cho’s son (who is played by Kosugi’s real son), leading to numerous fight sequences. Much like Enter the Ninja, the plot of Revenge of the Ninja is utter nonsense, but unlike the first film in this trilogy, the second film knows how to stage a fight sequence (it helps that Sho Kosugi is actually trained for this stuff). He uses every weapon in his ninja arsenal, including more throwing stars than a person can count.
There are not one, not two, but three fights set in and around hot tubs for some reason. The best is when Braden’s assistant Cathy (Ashley Ferrare) (who eventually turns from him and helps Cho) is tied up in a hot tub and left to boil. (I guess, do hot tubs really get that hot? Anyway, she screams a lot.)
This is a film that understood the assignment. It never takes itself seriously, and provides us with loads of ninja action.
Ninja III: The Domination got the memo as well, as it is more of the same. This time our hero is a girl (and you can almost hear the screams of “woke”). Christie Ryder (Lucinda Dickey) is a telephone repairwoman by day and an aerobics instructor by night. One day out on the (day) job, she comes across a ninja who has been badly injured.
Actually, back up a minute. Our film begins with that ninja (David Chung) attacking a businessman on the golf course. About two dozen cops give chase, and our ninja defeats almost all of them in the most spectacular of ways. Once, he even jumps out of a tree, grabs onto a helicopter, and ninjas the sucker down. But before it is all said and done, the cops shoot him numerous times. Killing him. Sort of. Before he dies, he uses a smoke bomb to disguise the fact that he’s digging a hole into the ground, making it look like he’s disappeared. The cops shrug and disperse, allowing the ninja to be discovered by Chrisie. As he dies, his spirit possesses her.
She tells the cops she has discovered the dead ninja, and one of them, Billy Secord (Jordan Bennett), uses this as a means to hit on her. She turns him down. He gets her number from the report and calls her that night, asking for a date. She turns him down again. He follows her to her aerobics class and asks her out again. She turns him down for a third time. After class, she sees some dudes harassing one of her students and runs to defend her. The dudes then harass Christie, then they assault her. Meanwhile, a crowd (and the cop) looks on. When she uses her newfound ninja powers to kick their asses, Billy finally steps in and arrests her (because she assaulted them!). But instead of taking her to the precinct, he drives her around, pressing her for a date. She once again turns him down and lets him know she doesn’t like cops.
This pisses him off, and he shouts at her and kicks her to the curb. Because this is a movie from the 1980s, this is the thing that finally turns her around. She invites him to her pad (a wonderfully 1980s apartment filled with neon lights and an arcade game) and then uses a can of V-8 vegetable juice as a sexual aid.
Anyway, every time Christie sees one of the cops that shot the ninja inside of her, the ninja gets his revenge on. And since her new boyfriend is a cop, she keeps running into folks needing to be revenge killed. When the ninja completely possesses Christie, she blacks out, leading Billy to take her to an exorcist (played by the always great James Hong). And since only a ninja can kill a ninja (a line also used in Revenge of the Ninja) they call on Goro Yamada (Sho Kosugi), a ninja who was hunting the first ninja for having killed his clan.
As you can tell the plot is utter tosh. But thankfully, the action is loads of fun. The possession angle gives it an interesting supernatural vibe, and Christie’s aerobics background allows for a few Flashdance-esque scenes. It is goofy, and stupid, and entertaining as heck.
I feel a bit sad that I never got to see these films as a kid. I would have absolutely loved them. This new boxed set would have given me monumental nostalgia. As an adult, I recognize that these are not good films by any reasonable measurement. But the kid that still lives inside me can also sit back and completely enjoy myself. I’ll probably still always skip the first one, as it was just bad, but the other two will find themselves regularly repeated.
Kino Lorber presents each of these three films with a new 4K UHD scan of the original film’s negatives. They all look fantastic. I was skeptical coming into these films, thinking there was no need for low-budget action flicks from the 1980s to need a UHD release, but watching them completely proved me wrong. All three films come with Blu-ray discs along with the 4K UHD discs. Extras include the following:
DISC 1 (ENTER THE NINJA – 4K UHD):
- Brand New HDR/Dolby Vision Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative
- Audio Commentary by Action Film Historians Mike Leeder and Arne Venema
- 5.1 Surround and Lossless 2.0 Audio
- Triple-Layered UHD100 Disc
- Optional English Subtitles
DISC 2 (ENTER THE NINJA – BLU-RAY):
- Brand New HD Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative
- Audio Commentary by Action Film Historians Mike Leeder and Arne Venema
- Theatrical Trailer
- 5.1 Surround and Lossless 2.0 Audio
- Dual-Layered BD50 Disc
- Optional English Subtitles
DISC 3 (REVENGE OF THE NINJA – 4K UHD):
- Brand New HDR/Dolby Vision Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative
- Audio Commentary by Director Sam Firstenberg and Stunt Coordinator Steven Lambert
- Audio Commentary by Action Film Historians Mike Leeder and Arne Venema
- 5.1 Surround and Lossless 2.0 Audio
- Triple-Layered UHD100 Disc
- Optional English Subtitles
DISC 4 (REVENGE OF THE NINJA – BLU-RAY):
- Brand New HD Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative
- Audio Commentary by Director Sam Firstenberg and Stunt Coordinator Steven Lambert
- Audio Commentary by Action Film Historians Mike Leeder and Arne Venema
- Intro by Sam Firstenberg
- Behind-the-Scenes Photo Gallery
- Theatrical Trailer
- 5.1 Surround and Lossless 2.0 Audio
- Dual-Layered BD50 Disc
- Optional English Subtitles
DISC 5 (NINJA III: THE DOMINATION – 4K UHD):
- Brand New HDR/Dolby Vision Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative
- Audio Commentary by Director Sam Firstenberg and Stunt Coordinator Steve Lambert, Moderated by Robert Galluzo
- Isolated Score Selections and Audio Interviews with Composer Misha Segal and Production Designer Elliot Ellentuck
- 5.1 Surround and Lossless 2.0 Audio
- Triple-Layered UHD100 Disc
- Optional English Subtitles
DISC 6 (NINJA III: THE DOMINATION – BLU-RAY):
- Brand New HD Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative
- Audio Commentary by Director Sam Firstenberg and Stunt Coordinator Steve Lambert, moderated by Robert Galluzo
- Isolated Score Selections and Audio Interviews with Composer Misha Segal and Production Designer Elliot Ellentuck
- Dancing With Death: Interview with Actress Lucinda Dickey (18:24)
- Secord’s Struggle: Interview with Actor Jordan Bennett (10:25)
- Birth of the Ninja: Interview with Producer and Stuntman Alan Amiel (11:47)
- Theatrical Trailer
- 5.1 Surround and Lossless 2.0 Audio
- Dual-Layered BD50 Disc
- Optional English Subtitles
