Customer Reviews

Enter The Ninja

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The film begins with a very impressive display of weaponry skills by none other than Sho Kosugi in full Ninja uniform, including sai, shinobi-gatana, tonfa, nunchaku, manriki {bola}, blowgun, shiroken, bow & arrow, and spear-staff. Blend into white ninja {color indicative of novice/apprentice} amidst the wilderness undergoing his final "law of the jungle" test until recognized as full Ninja calibre; he is attacked by several red ninjas on his way back to the dojo, expertly defending himself until facing the Shidoshi himself, shockingly beheading him before entering in for judgement {this was a mere test to decipher whether or not he would be able to assassinate someone familiar to him to fulfill a mission, as many times an enemy would employ such illusionary tactics to distract from the task at hand}; in quite a moving scene, he is admonished by the shidoshi {teacher/"master"} to proclaim the Kuji-Kiri, The Nine Levels of Power while gesticulating the symbolic finger-knitting, which are:

1. Rin - Strength of mind and body.
2. Kyo - Direction of energy.
3. Toh - Harmony with the universe.
4. Sha - Healing of self and others.
5. Kai - Premonition of danger.
6. Jin - Knowing the thoughts of others.
7. Retsu - Mastery of time and space.
8. Zai - Control of the elements of nature.
9. Zen - Enlightenment.

The Ninja is a highly-disciplined "mystic warrior", as it were, a veritable "Assassin Warlock", utilizing the forces of nature to one's benefit, both manipulating and cooperating the Chi-Energy within and without, permeating matter and ether as one. Practicing the multi-levels of mind and body to develop absolute harmony and grace with one's inner and outer nature. Ninjitsu-Ryu, or Ninpo, is a true Martial Art.

Unfortunately, due to ignorance and probably fear, cinematically at least, ninja figures seem to be sometimes erroniously depicted as mere hoodlums or fumbling dime-a-dozen henchmen. Obviously, with some research on the subject, one will realize that this is not the case.

Historically, the Ninja was hired as a private assassin for rival families and rulerships - because of the feudal environment, the Ninja had to be the foremost martial artisan, and was in fact, the most advanced of the kind.

Turns out the white-clad Ninja is an American {an obvious Frank Dux inspiration} named "Cole", who gains the animosity of another student named Hasegawa {Sho Kosugi}, who holds an grudge against westerners learning the ancient secret art. He is a descendant of the original nine Ryu {families}, and feels divulging the art is sort of a sacrelege. Although Cole certainly proved worthy and earned it by merit, which is the sign of superiority. "Merit, not inherit", as a certain Magus so precisely and concisely stated.

Now that he is Ninja of the highest order, Cole departs to the Phillipines where he meets up with old war buddy Frank Landers, and soon learns of the local corruption besetting a village comitted by the resident Mafia, whose rather bratty boss desires the oil-enriched land for profit. A vile little toad of a man named "Siegfried Schultz" with a hook for a hand harasses a local shopkeep who did not "pay on time", and thus begins the contention between that underground organization and the one-man army Cole has become, who dispatches all antagonistic forces geared his way, which angers unscupulous CEO Charles Venarius, and through a deceitful subordinate, hires his own Ninja from the very same dojo, none other than Hasegawa!

As a side note, Cole eventually attracts the amorous attention of his friend Frank's wife Mary Ann, a sinewy blonde despirate for affection, upon which they indulge in a tryst after she radiates the mating signal through a sheer neglige.

Hasegawa abducts Mary Ann, and Landers meets his end by Hasegawa's shogi blade. Memory sequence includes a couple of memorable quotes (both in Vietnam):

Landers: "Now that the war is over, I'm gonna' find myself a good woman and live 'til I'm a hundred. You?"
Cole: "Find another war."

So, after gaining justice by lethal punishment upon Venarius, Cole and Hasegawa battle to the death with honor, tenacity, and skill.

Liberal uses of smoke bombs, extraordinary acrobatics, stealth and bloody kills. One particularly notable kill was Hasegawa's extermination of a guard using shuko, or the metal claws also used for climbing. Two genital attacks, including Schultz's hook on a thug and Cole's tonfa on a guard.

"Enter The Ninja" was released during the latter part of the martial arts pop-fascination of the 70's and early 80's, and distinguished itself by presenting Ninpo principles such as the afore-mentioned Kuji-Kiri, indigenous weaponry and some techniques, all under the expert supervision of Sho Kosugi {also "The Master" technical advisor}, an actual Ninpo practitioner, who along with Frank Dux, earned some ire from traditionalists in the old country, but did manage to add an enhanced perspective on this enigmatic historical character known as Ninja.

This is the first of the trilogy. The other two are "Revenge of The Ninja", and "Ninja III: The Domination". Also by Golan-Globus, the "American Ninja" trilogy.

For fans of Kung Fu films, Enter the Ninja will not disapoint. Financed by the B-Action movie Kings Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, Enter the Ninja revived the Ninja craze of the early 80's with it's well choreographed fights and bloody violence. Spawned two sequels with little to with each other (Revenge of the Ninja and Ninja III: The Domination) and was the inspiration for another Golan-Globus classic American Ninja.

the first and last 20 minutes are some of the best scenes in a martial arts movie ever!

This is Kosugi's first film, and for the Cannon group some almost 20 years after its release - (hard to believe) - it's not half bad, though this is basically a cult-film at best, for those who have an appreciation of Cannon's sleazy style of exploitation.

The story centers around Nero - a white, American ninja - who makes an enemy in Ninja School, and then leaves school, and heads off to Mexico to visit a friend. There he learns that his old buddy has some problems w/ money baron Christopher George. Sooner or later, George tracks down his rival, and arranges a meeting for them both accordingly.

George's appearance and Kosugi's coreography save this film. Say what you want about Kosugi but I haven't seen a fight coreographed better by any modern actor. Too bad, Van Damne killed his career - what little of one he had... He doesn't even have any coreographing skills, (that I know of,) that can in any, way, shape or form redeem his incredibly bad-acting, though at least w/ Kosugi he had some sort of talent in one department or another.

One of the great 80s ninja movies .Should be on DVD. If you are a fan of this movie go to MGM's website. In faq you can write a letter to request dvd releases

The movie is classic in its own way, but the DVD version is heavily cut and the quality of the picture is not the best.
Because of this only 2 stars

The plot of this movie has distinct overtones of the classic Western "Shane " and the best way to view it may well be in those terms ,with the Phillipines standing in for the frontier and martial arts weaponry and skills relpacing six shooters .
Franco Nero plays an ex mercenary who goes to visit an old friend who is having problems .The local Mr Big -played badly ,as usual by Christopher George, --is trying to force him to selling him his plantation and uses hired goons to rub the point home .Nero is a trained ninja and effortlessly defeats the thugs sent to coerce his friend .Eventaully the baddie strikes back by hiring his own "black ninja"(Sho Kosugi) who just happens to be Nero's dealiest enemy from the ninja academy and the scene is set for the final epic confrontation between the two men

This is decently enough done if more than slighly old hat but the fight scenes are brisk and lively and it works well as sraightforward "good vs bad " action movie
Iam not sure it was a good idea to call it by this title however as it evokes memories of Enter the Dragon ,still the best martial arts picture , and this is not in the same class .Minor cavil aside this is a good enough time passer

The pirates sure took a beating in this one. Hehe, Excellent. With thier crazy ninja smoke and their bouncing around, I don't understand how anyone could beat a ninja with another ninja. Like I always say, you have to fight fire with ninjas. I give this movie six thumbs in inordinate directions.

This film stars Franco Nero as a good ninja in black, helping a husband and wife try to stop the trouble gangs are causing where they live. The final show down is Nero against the bad ninja in white, Sho Kosugi. This is a very disappointing movie compared to it's first sequel, Revenge of the Ninja ("Revenge" is a sequel that has nothing to do with "Enter", except it includes Sho Kosugi as the good guy, finally,AWESOME!), a much better film. The score in "Enter" is basically the same as in "Revenge", which is excellent and it is played more in "Enter". But this still does not compensate for how boring the film is, and how non-interesting the action scenes are. One of the reasons this film is a disappointment is because Sho Kosugi (who is a fantastic martial arts guy!) probably had less power with the action scenes in the film, while not even being first billed in the cast. Another reason is that Menahem Golan directed it. It's bad enough him and his cousin, Yorum Globus (The Cannon Group), produce crap for films, but here Menahem is even directing. For example, the white guy (Nero) is the good guy, while the Japanese guy (Kosugi) is the bad guy! That's great! Another example is Nero sleeping with the wife of the friend he is trying to protect! That's great, too! Nero is some friend! That's typical of the Cannon Group. Even though the Cannon Group was involved with both sequels, "Revenge of the Ninja and "Ninja III: The Domination", things were different. Sho Kosugi definetly had more power in both films, being first billed in "Revenge" and having a major part in "Ninja III". Also, Sam Firstenberg directed both of these films, a much better director in films like this compared to Meneham Golan. I've given this film two stars, particularly for the score.

I was so thrilled to actually find this movie on Amazon because I never thought that I would ever find it again but when I had seen it and ordered it I never thought that I would receive it so quickly and have it in such pristine condition,have it work so well and know that I would definately order from this seller again. Thank you.