Revenge of the Ninja is a 1983 martial arts action film directed by Sam Firstenberg, starring Shi Kosugi, Arthur Roberts, Ashley Ferrare, Kane Kosugi, and Keith Vitali. The supporting cast includes Virgil Frye, Grace Oshita, Mario Gallo, and John LaMotta. It is the second film in what is known as the "ninja trilogy" (along with Enter the Ninja and Ninja III: The Domination), released by Cannon Films and featuring Sho Kosugi. They are only considered a trilogy because Kosugi appears in each of them (he was not the lead in Enter the Ninja), and the storylines of the three movies are not related to each other. In this one, Kosugi plays Cho Osaka, a resident of Japan who is being pressured by an American Businessman named Braden (played by Roberts). Cho is reluctant to leave until the majority of his family is attacked and killed by evil ninjas; he agrees to move to America and open an art gallery with Braden's backing. We find out that Braden is in deep with the local mob and is running drugs through the gallery, using Japanese dolls to smuggle them into the country.
The 4k set is a two-disc set containing a UHD disc and a standard blu-ray. The UHD disc just contains the film itself, which can be played with the commentary tracks. The A/V quality of the film in UHD is excellent. Despite being a low-budget 1980s action film, it received a very good 4k transfer and is definitely worth the upgrade. The bonus features include the two previously mentioned commentary tracks. The first includes the director, Sam Firstenberg, and the stunt coordinator, Steven Lambert (who also played one of the characters in the cheesiest fight in the entire film), in which they talk about the movie's production and behind-the-scenes events during filming. The second is by film critics Mike Leeder and Arne Venema. Theirs is more of a MST3K viewing in which they talk about (and sometimes make fun of) the scenes, but also talk about the history of martial arts films (particularly ninja movies), the history of Cannon Films, and more. The other bonus content is on the standard blu-ray and includes an introduction to the movie by Firstenberg, a behind-the-scenes stills gallery, and trailers for other 80s action films (the same trailers that were included with the Enter the Ninja release).
The movie is very cheesy and definitely feels like it is stuck in the early 80s. The action is much better in this movie than in Enter the Ninja, due in large part to the fact that the main evil ninja wore a mask, so Steve Lambert could do the action in the costume. The movie still has many of the same continuity issues that Enter the Ninja has. For example, in the climactic battle, the two ninjas begin fighting just with swords, but different weapons (and decoy dummies) appear out of nowhere throughout the fight. It is clear from the commentary tracks that continuity was not something that really mattered on set (or matters in these movies in general). Ultimately, it is a movie that you have to accept as it is and not think too much about it. If you can, it is entertaining, sometimes in a "so bad it's good" way. And if you were a fan of the movie as a kid, it is definitely worth checking out and adding to a physical media collection.
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