Ninja Supremo

Rating:
Summary: Average showcase for kung fu star Cliff Lok
Review: NINJA SUPREMO (1981) stars Cliff Lok, the underrated kung fu star better known for KUNG FU GENIUS, RING OF DEATH (aka BASTARD KUNG FU MASTER, as it's listed on Amazon) and MAD, MAD KUNG FU (aka OL' DIRTY KUNG FU, as it's listed on Amazon), all far better films and all also reviewed on this site. But fans of Lok shouldn't pass this up. The interesting thing here is that Lok spends an awful lot of time training in this one, even so far as to go back for more instruction after the first real battle, which doesn't come until the 56-minute mark. The training itself is pretty arduous and inflicts its share of injuries on the hero. In the last 20 minutes, Lok and his teacher, Ku Jeng (aka Kau Chen), take on two crippled kung fu masters whose disabilities were inflicted on them by the teacher in a no-holds-barred fight seen under the opening credits. Tsai Hung plays the one with the nervous disorder and Ma Chin Ku plays the hunchback. The final battles are tough and take every ounce of skill and strength on the part of the hero and his teacher. Lok is not just a great fighter, but a fine actor, so the whole thing comes off as more serious and more believable than usual.

It's a reasonably well-made film, with good photography and editing and a welcome cast of familiar kung fu faces, although the English dubbing is below-average. The transfer is sharp, although the original print used for this edition is a bit on the scratchy side and the colors less bright than they ought to be.