Enter the Ninja (1982)

Directed by: Menahem Golan
Written by: Dick Desmond, Mike Stone
Cast: Franco Nero, Susan George, Sho Kosugi, Alex Courtney, Christopher George

The Cannon Group struck gold with its first martial arts film, 1981's Enter the Ninja. Though Western audiences had seen ninjas before, most notably in the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice, this movie changed how these shadow warriors were portrayed on the screen.

Transplanting martial arts mayhem into a gunslinger plotline, the ninja gained near-superhuman abilities and a more heroic disposition. The resulting film was successful enough for Cannon to launch two franchises (Enter the Ninja and American Ninja) and embedded the art of Ninjutsu into American pop culture.

The film opens as Westerner Cole (Franco Nero) is completing his final test in Ninjutsu, thus earning the right to practice and teach the art. But Hasegawa (Sho Kosugi), a high-ranking ninja in the dojo, isn't happy with Cole's new status and storms away from the celebration. We all know we haven't seen the last of him.

Cole then leaves Japan for the Philippines to visit his old army buddy, Frank Landers (Alex Courtney). But he discovers all is not well at the Landers plantation when Frank's wife, Mary-Ann (Susan George), greets him with the business end of a shotgun. It appears a group of thugs are trying to force the couple to sell their land, causing Frank to spiral into an alcoholic haze and most of their workers to flee from the farm.

Of course, Cole takes care of the goons with little effort. This pisses off their boss, Mr. Venarius (Christopher George), who wants the Landers' farm because it's sitting over a large oil reserve. Mr. Venarius dispatches his right-hand man, Mr. Parker (Constantin De Goguel), to take care of Cole. Though his attempt fails, Mr. Parker discovers Cole is a ninja and sets out to hire a ninja for his boss.

And you will never guess who it is. Oh, wait, you will, because you've probably seen this plot countless times before. It's as if Mike Stone (a light-contact karate champion in the '60s who also served as fight choreographer for the film) was watching Shane on television one night and thought, "Wait a minute. This movie could be great if the gunslingers were ninjas!" And if you doubt that, just remember that while the evil ninja is clad in the traditional black outfit, Cole's uniform is pure white (and he's still able to sneak up on the bad guys in broad daylight!).

Despite the peaceful intents of Ninjutsu Grand Master, Hasegawa murders Frank, burns down the plantation workers' shacks and takes Mary-Ann hostage. Finding his friend dead, Cole sets out for a showdown with Mr. Venarius, Hasegawa and a busload of disposable henchmen. Shurikens fly, minibombs go off and the two ninjas confront each other in a cockfighting arena for the traditional battle to the death.

While one might be tempted to take that last line as some prophetic commentary on the MMA craze, you'd be far off base. This movie is little more than a cheap action flick, but it's a lot of fun, even after 30 years. And though the fight scenes are not as fast and furious as today's action films, it's nice to watch a martial arts sequence without getting a strobe editing-induced headache.

Still, a modern audience has to accept this film as a product of its time. For example, Mary-Ann visits Cole's bed one night, and he doesn't protest. I guess he took pity on her after Frank confessed to some erectile dysfunction problems a few scenes earlier. But, while Frank's not too happy about Cole's marital aid, he blames Mary-Ann for the tryst, not his best friend who should have been practicing his ninja hand poses instead of pawing his friend's wife. And animal lovers beware, as this film contains a few cockfighting scenes. While the shots are rather brief and avoid the bloody outcome, it will be disturbing for some viewers. Animal protection laws weren't that strong a few decades ago, and certainly not in The Philippines.

Though one could complain about the script's lack of characterization, it really doesn't matter. Sure, Hasegawa's evil turn is a bit of a surprise, as the Grand Master preaches several times that a ninja should use his skills for good. We never understand what drew Cole to the art of Ninjutsu, other than he was a soldier earlier in his life. And the Landers are painted with such broad strokes that it's almost painful to watch. But the story exists only to cram as many fight scenes as possible into 89 minutes and uses any character development as filler.

The acting is what you should expect from this type of film. The hero and his friends are engaging enough to keep your interest, which isn't to say the actors are bad. The script gives them little to do, unless you count the villain. George gets to chew up every scene he's in and delivers on that count. In fact, his death scene (come on, that's not a spoiler; you know it's coming) is one of the best moments of overacting ever filmed. His performance alone is worth the price of this DVD.

I should also mention that while Nero's stunt double is a pretty good match, it's obvious the actor himself is not skilled in the martial arts. This might be jarring to a generation that grew up on films of Jackie Chan, Tony Jaa and Chuck Norris. But Sho Kosugi, a skilled martial artist, is terrific during his action scenes and starred in both sequels (Revenge of the Ninja in 1983 and the absolutely batshit crazy mix of martial arts and the supernatural, Ninja III: The Domination), as well as a host of other ninja films throughout the '80s. He's still acting, with a role in 2009's Ninja Assassin, and should be in The Expendables 2, as he's the actor most associated with the ninja craze of the '80s. He fought Rutger Hauer in Blind Fury — so that has to count for something, Stallone.

The only annoying aspect of the film is its soundtrack, which tends to repeat the same few bars over and over during the action sequences. It's a Muzak loop from hell and is rather grating, especially as you can't get the music out of your head for days (yes, I'm still hearing it).

Enter the Ninja is part of the MGM Limited Edition Collection, and the picture is pretty good for a MOD (Made On Demand) DVD. I was a bit worried during the opening credits, where the black background looked rather pixellated, but the problem doesn't occur during the film's night scenes. Sound quality is good as well, though I must confess to using external computer speakers when I viewed the film. Don't expect much if you pump the sound through your home entertainment system.

I should mention that the DVD cover says the movie is designed to work on "DVD video 'play only' devices, and may not play on other DVD devices, including recorders and PC drives." It worked fine on my Mac, but I figured I'd better include that disclaimer in case some interested fans use something other than a DVD player to view movies.

The film holds up well after three decades, with some nice fights, a few minutes of bloody violence (how the hell does a ninja imbed a throwing star that far into a human skull?) and a terrific performance by Christopher George. It's a solid piece of '80s entertainment and a nice break from the hyper-speed camera work and editing of modern action films. If you're a fan of old school Cannon action films or martial arts movies, you should consider buying this one.

Rating: (4 out of 5):