4k-UHD/Movie Review: Ninja III: The Domination

 

Ninja III: The Domination is the 1984 martial arts film that is the third in what fans call the "Ninja Trilogy," released by Cannon Films in the early 1980s, featuring real ninjutsu practitioner Sho Kosugi. The film stars Kosugi, Lucinda Dickey,  and Jordan Bennet. The supporting cast includes David Chung, Dale Ishimoto, James Hong, and John La Motta. Like the second installment of the trilogy, it was directed by Sam Firstenberg. This movie was fast-tracked after the success of the second film, Revenge of the Ninja. This movie, however, is not a continuation of that one. Kosugi plays a totally different character, and while he did receive top billing, he was more of a secondary character. He does not appear in the movie until about a third of the way through it, and does not really get involved in the action until about two-thirds of the way in. 

The movie begins with a huge fight scene in which an evil Ninja (played by Chung) assassinates a scientist and his security team on a golf course. Police respond and end up mortally wounding him. He manages to escape and transfer his spirit into the body of a telephone company worker named Christie (played by Lucinda Dickey) to take revenge on the cops. She begins dating one of the cops (who was hidden from the Ninja's view), and when she sees one of the other officers who shot the Ninja, his spirit takes over her body, and she kills them. Kosugi plays Yamata, a good ninja from Japan who comes to stop the evil ninja, and when he discovers his spirit has possessed Christie, he tries to get it out of her and into his own body so he can stop the evil ninja for good. 

The 4k set is a two-disc set containing a UHD disc and a standard Blu-Ray. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is outstanding. There are two audio tracks: a 2.0-channel track and a 5.1-channel track. The 2.0 track may not play on some sound systems, but switching to the 5.1-channel track will. However, even if you select the 5.1-channel track in the menu, the movie will play the 2.0-channel track, so you will need to switch the audio on your remote to get the sound to play correctly. There are two commentary tracks for the film, each available on the UHD disc and the standard Blu-Ray. The first is a director's commentary featuring Firstenberg and stunt coordinator Steven Lambert. It is much like their track on Revenge of the Ninja, which breaks down various scenes and discusses the film's production. The second plays the movie with a score over the dialogue and features interviews with the composer and production designer. Unfortunately, unlike the 4k releases of Enter the Ninja and Revenge of the Ninja, there is no commentary track by film critics Mike Leeder and Arne Venema. The other bonus features include a 19-minute interview with Lucinda Dickey, an 11-minute interview with Jordan Bennet, and a 12-minute interview with producer and stuntman Alan Amiel, which were carryovers from the 2018 blu-ray release of the film. The same trailers that were on the Enter and Revenge discs are here as well.

There are good and bad things about the movie. There was much more action in this movie than in the first two, but the plot was much worse than in Revenge of the Ninja. This movie blends genres and is basically a mash-up of 1970s and early 80s films like Flashdance, Poltergeist, and The Exorcist combined with a martial arts movie. In fact, in the commentary, Firstenberg states that the film was heavily influenced by Poltergeist. However, it seemed that everyone thought it was silly, and Kosugi was unhappy about being relegated to a secondary character.  One interesting fact is that this was actually Dickey's first movie. She went from filming this to filming the movie Breakin, which became a minor hit. Breakin, however, was released before Ninja III, and her career took a hit as she was seen as having star potential, only to flop with her second movie. Ultimately, you have to take the movie as it is. It is a low-budget ninja movie that is totally unrealistic (it gives ninjas superhuman strength and supernatural abilities) and can be a bit silly. That said, the action is good, and if you do not overthink it, it is entertaining. For those who were fans as a kid and collect physical media, it is worth adding to your collection. 

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Revenge of the Ninja

 

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). It absolutely earns the R-rating, as there is a lot of swearing and violence, and some brief nudity. Ultimately, it is a movie you have to accept as it is and not overthink. 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. 

4k-UHD/Movie Review: Enter the Ninja

 

Enter the Ninja is the 1981 action film starring Franco Nero, Sho Kosugi, Susan George, Christopher George, Alex Courtney, and Constantine Gregory that arguably launched the resurgence of martial-arts movies in the 1980s, specifically the Ninja genre. It was the first of what is called the "Ninja Trilogy," consisting of this film, Revenge of the Ninja, and Ninja III: The Domination. This film has no ties to the other two films, aside from featuring real-life ninjitsu practitioner Sho Kosugi (although he plays different characters in each film). In this film, Nero plays an American who goes to Japan to study ninjitsu. Kosugi plays Hasegawa, a ninja whose family lineage traces back to the ancient samurai, and does not believe an American should be allowed to be trained as a ninja. The film opens with a massive fight scene, which we eventually find out is Cole's final test to become a ninja. Once he graduates, Cole goes to Manila to visit his old war buddy, Frank Landers, who owns a plantation and is being pressured to sell his land by a wealthy CEO named Charles Venarious (played by Christopher George). When Cole dispatches his goons with ease, Venarious hires a ninja (Hasegawa) to take Cole out. 

The 4k release is a two-disc set containing a UHD disc (which just contains the film) and a standard Blu-Ray, which contains the film and the bonus content. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is excellent, and it is an upgrade over prior releases. The bonus content includes a commentary track by film historians Mike Leeder and Arne Venema, and trailers for several other films, including Koshugi's other movies. 

The movie itself is very cheesy and not particularly well-written or acted. It very much has the feel of a low-budget action film with some cheesy comedy sprinkled in here and there. The commentary track is quite interesting as Leeder and Venema give a pretty good breakdown of the film's interesting production history, including the fact that martial artist (and the guy who broke up Elvis and Priscilla), Mike Stone, was originally supposed to play the role of Cole. However, when the producers found out that Franco Nero was in the Philippines, they offered him the role despite the fact that he had no martial arts experience (which absolutely shows when he is doing action scenes), and Stone was relegated to being his stunt double and the fight coordinator. Having Stone in the role would have at least made Cole look the part, as Nero was hilariously bad during the fight scenes and could not even do a proper front kick, much less do anything that came close to looking like a trained ninja. You can also tell the movie did not have anyone paying attention to continuity, because in the opening sequence alone Cole would have a bow and arrow in one scene, then have two swords, then have one sword and a dagger, then would magically have the bow and arrows again, only to have them disappear after shooting an arrow and starting to run without actually dropping the bow. And all the ninjas that it looks like Cole is killing during his test are magically okay despite being run through with a sword or having throwing stars stuck in their forehead.  

Of course, nothing in the movie is all that realistic, and it presents a very over-the-top and exaggerated representation of ninjutsu (which is a real style of martial arts). But it is not really a movie that you watch because you are looking for it to make sense, have great acting, or for the continuity. For many people who were kids in the 80s and into martial arts, this will absolutely be a blast from the past (even if you notice the flaws you did not notice then). Ultimately, if you can accept it for what it is, it is entertaining, even if it is in a Mystery Science Theater 3000  "so bad it's good" way and worth checking out in 4k.