Life of Ninja

Rating:
Summary: Modern Day Ninja!
Review: I've had this film on VHS for quite a few years (under the alternate title of "Deadly Life of a Ninja"). It was one of the first ninja/kung fu films I ever purchased, and even in pan n' scan, I thought it was a blast.

Unintentional comedy is evident in a few scenes, most notaby in the opening montage of Ninja history and training. For some reason, female mud wrestling is a secret Ninja skill according to the movie. In another segment, a Ninja battles his nemesis while wearing a gold lamme outfit!

The 1983 film contains one of the most interesting assassination techniques I've ever seen; a Ninja waits to attack his victim until she is taking a shower, and then kills her with a poisoned ICICLE! The hot water melts the murder weapon away, and the wound goes almost unnoticed during the autopsy.

The police are baffled by strange killings like this, and they call in a martial artist who is both an expert on Ninja, and is secretly is a good Ninja who fights for justice. The leader of the bad Ninja killed his Master many years ago, and so he works with the police to battle the Ninja assassins and have his revenge.

There is some nudity, but not to excess. The print is scuffed, but not overly poor, and does appear to be complete. As usual with older films like this, the dubbing is pretty funny to listen to. My biggest squawk is that the print is not in widescreen, although the film appears to have been shot that way.

For all you Grizzly Adams / PETA types, you might not care for two scenes. In one, two pigeons are skewered while on the wing during Ninja training. In another, a snake is beheaded on a kitchen table (this one is a bit graphic).

There is some kendo on disply, and even some wire work. When the hero goes to the Ninja lair, there's some great combat in their garden and surrounding woods, and the final combat with the bad Ninja leader is also great.

There is an excellent commentary by Ric Meyers of "Inside Kung Fu" magazine that is very informative on the real history of the ninja vs. the ninja history as portrayed in the movies. Turns out that the producers actually did a little research into real ninja, which made this film that much better.

Meyers' commentaries on these Martial Arts Theater DVDs are almost always worth watching the film twice back-to-back; first without, then with, the commentary track running. If I have a choice between kung fu movies to buy, the presence of a Meyers commentary track always helps me decide which one to spend the money on.

For the price, I'd say that this is a good addition to your kung fu collection, despite the drawbacks of the print.