VividSimon Simply Perfect

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Leofwine_draca ENTER THE NINJA is a film that has a lot to answer for. It remains the most popular ninja film of the '80s as well as being one of the first western films to tackle the subject (preceded only by THE OCTAGON, with Chuck Norris) and therefore is responsible in part for all the hundreds of no-budget ninja films that followed in its wake, usually made by the dreaded Gordon Ho/Joseph Lai/Tomas Tang tag team and starring Richard Harrison - who come to think of it was made to look a lot like Franco Nero in this film, right down to the age and bushy moustache, and who also happened to be a big star in Italy since the '60s. However, ENTER THE NINJA is a lot slicker and bigger-budgeted than the cheap rip-offs that followed in its wake and more a straightforward thriller, with no fantastic flying or special moves silliness that later plagued the genre. Imagine the endless Chuck Norris films that Golan and Globus forever churned out during the '80s, replace Chuck with a ninja but keep the same basic plot, and you have this film.The plot isn't much, bear in mind. It revolves around that old "rich and corrupt businessman tries to buy land from family who won't sell" cliché which in turn became even more clichéd during the '80s and '90s, a plot recycled over and over again ad infinitum. One change here is that the location is the sweaty Philippines, Manilla to be precise, where the film got an exotic foreign-made look but was still relatively cheap to produce, especially as Golan got to hire lots of cheap crew and cast members for minor jobs. The film begins with Franco Nero - dressed up as a white ninja - easily dispatching a gang of red and black ninjas in a huge fight in the woods. He wins, and goes to meet an old Vietnam buddy in the Philippines.Said buddy has now turned into a hopeless drunk, who is powerless against the thugs that an evil corporate man (Christopher George) sends out to beat him over regularly when he refuses to sell his land. Farm workers are terrorised and move away and there's a nasty sleaze ball with a hook for a hand and hired muscle to help him out. Of course it's not long before Franco Nero enters the run-down bars and beats up loads of bad guys in easy non-ninja martial arts action. Of course, Nero was never a martial arts hero, but as all of his opponents are weedy Filipino guys with no training, he looks good as he kicks and pummels them to the ground. Things gradually escalate with more and more hired bad guys being killed and beaten before the sneaky Christopher George sends his henchman to Japan to hire a rival ninja to beat Nero.The man is Sho Kosugi, a huge Japanese star of the 1980s, who starred in a further two sequels to this film - as the good guy no less - and lots of other martial arts films during the period. Things culminate in a final battle in an arena between Nero and Kosugi which is well-choreographed throughout. Like most films from Cannon, the production values are just about passable with able camera-work and soundtrack. Nero is noticeably dubbed into becoming yet another American hero but other than that, nothing rings false.The cast is a good one, with the slimy villains headed by Christopher George as the overacting baddie for a change, making a good job of it. The hook-handed guy is the butt of some cruel humour as he gets his arm torn off and repeatedly humiliated. Nero is experienced and deals well with his heroic leading part, and his martial arts stuff requires him to wear a face mask so the change to stunt double is natural and mostly unnoticeable. Sho Kogusi is excellent as the evil but still honourable ninja, even if he occupies minimal screen time, whilst Susan George just stands around being sexy and sassy in equal measures, and unsurprisingly ends up in bed with our moustachioed hero. Although no classic, ENTER THE NINJA is a fun, pretty violent martial arts outing with a fast pacing and plenty of action and cheesy comedy to counter the bone-breaking acts of violence.

Mechagoji75 When I have heard of this film on the Electric Boogaloo, I saw Franco Nero as the Main Ninja, I was like, wait, The guy from Companeros and Die Hard 2 is in this, and got me very excited. And finally watching this movie, and for some reason, It started to come the similar story from Bruce Lee's Way of the Dragon where Tang Lung (Bruce Lee) comes to Rome to help a woman (Nora Miao) to keep her restaurant going around from the mafia offering her to sell it, while this is about where a Oil company's businessman tries to buy a large property where Cole's friend owns. I assume Menahem Golan must've have seen Way of the Dragon and copy the same story onto Enter The Ninja. Although this is a great film directed by Golan, with a campy, laughable music where it's audio music quality is in the styles of a James Bond film.

shalimar-4 Steaming pile of....Well you get it.. the acting is horrid.. in the same class as Plan 9..The martial arts are so pathetic a typical karate class white belt would kick the crap out of the stars..Fake weapons.. etc etc etc GG ought to be beyond ashamed at actually making this.It makes Dolph's acting look good and believable!....(I am a 2nd BB in TKD btw... and I can in an expert opinion say this was beyond POOP.. and NO I'm not a "young punk" used to more modern movies either.)

Scarecrow-88 A sojourning master of Ninjitsu, visits an old war buddy in Manilla whose having problems with a ruthless businessman who wants his land and will not take no for an answer. Franco Nero, his voice dubbed, is Cole, a Vietnam vet who has mastered the art of Ninjitsu through the intense training of a school, wearing a white outfit, quite deadly with his vast array of weapons at his disposal. His nemesis in the school, Hasegawa(Shô Kosugi), longs for the ways of old, when the code of the Samurai was in full effect. Christopher George is Charles Venarius, a very callous, extremely wealthy businessman who doesn't appreciate when others resist his power, attempting to rebel against him. Charles is interested in land(..with oil underneath it's surface worth a fortune)owned by Cole's alcoholic pal, Frank Landers(Alex Courtney), who runs chicken fights for the nearby village who work for him and his lady, Mary Ann(Susan George). Cole will walk right in the middle of this feud and assist Frank against Charles and his endless army of goons who will do whatever is necessary to get that land. After several attempts to harm Frank, scaring off the men who worked tirelessly for him, Charles finds that his hands are indeed full as long as Cole is around, using his martial arts skills to fight off the constant attacks. But, fighting fire with fire, Charles will enlist the aide of a ninja, Hasegawa, who knows Cole quite well. In an showdown to the end, Cole will have to eliminate Charles' manpower and square off one on one with Hasegawa.If you like cheesy 80's ninja movies or those corny Asian movies dubbed to English, then Enter the Ninja will be right up your alley. I do, however, credit the director Menahem Golan, choreographer Shô Kosugi, editors Michael J Duthie & Mark Goodblatt, and Mike Stone who subbed for Nero during the fight sequences for putting together some exciting battles, even if the overall film is a bit hokey and repetitive. Fun, eclectic cast and hilarious sound effects as Nero cracks bones with lots of slow motion used to depict people on the verge(..and during)great feats or getting killed by those throwing stars which stab into many a chest. I just loved the over-the-top reactions of Charles' thugs and employees once they are attacked and killed by Cole. Nero, as always, is suave in his tailored suits, carrying his usual cool, intense when need be..but his dubbed voice-over provides unintentional laughs. I consider this film much better than the American Ninja series which featured an accomplished white man(..and other buddies)beating the holy hell out of wimpy ninjas in black(..among other colors) outfits.