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5.0 out of 5 stars
If you have seen th list of my fav. kung fu movies ever,than you may have seen this one and decided to see if anyone reviewed it, April 29, 2006
This review is from: Long zhi ren zhe (DVD)
And of course, nobody has reviewed it. I have to admit, I am getting pretty sick and tired of going to review a movie, and I AM CONSTANTLY THE ONLY ONE WHO HAS REVIEWED IT. Maybe me and a few of my friends are the only ones who enjoy fighting and watching people fight when we are not going at it. Now if you wanna see real stuff, then watch UFC or those insane cage matches. But if you are looking for director's and action director's to always be coming up with something new and unique, then that is why you watch kung fu. Ninja in the dragon's den is truly one of those movies that changed the way people fought on screen forever. This is a classic east meets east scenario. Corey yuen's team of action director's almost get shown up by the sonny chiba team that came along for his favorite prtoge's first hong kong starring role. Not only do we get those extended long hand to hand fight scenes, but they seem really real. And it is done by the yuen's, so expect some serious acrobatics.
Now the story is really a slapstick comedy. But for the most part it is supposed to be serious. Like my favorite part of the movie when the scarred up ninja goes to kill sanada and he is waiting for his ninja to kill him. And when sanada kills the last one he takes his ninja and yells at him "YOU CALL YOURSELF A NINJA", and then he breaks his body. And the reason this scene is my fav is the sword fight. It is one of the longest japanese sword fights I can ever remember. They are both in this extremely confined space and yet manage to put one of the best swordfights ever on the screen. And the battles keep getting better and better. The first one between lee and sanada is spectacular. And the second is one of THE best screen fights ever. This movie has SO many unique scenes, I honestly can't name them all. Now everyone seems to talk about this movie because of Hwang Jang Lee, and while he does finally throw down at the end, I would rate that like the 5th or 6th best fight of the movie. But the comedy is wonderful throughout the whole movie, and really shines at the end. If you have ever wondered where tarantino got that ear scene from reservoir dogs, then you might want to check this out. And by the way, it is even grosser in the original. And I am not ripping tarantino by any means, my guess is he used it cause it is one of his favorites movies and fav parts of a movie ever. But the action, you will not even find a glimpse of this in any of his movies. Woo-ping himself wouldn't have been able to come up with this. The acrobatics are the real reason to watch this, but also for the BRUTAL fights. How the hell these fights go on for SO long and still maanage to be very spectacular and yet real, I don't know.
Now the version I have of this is distributed by red sun. And I cannot recommend it because I am kicking myself wishing that I had gotten the hong kong legends version. The picture you see up above should be the special edition. It has commentary from Asian film expert Bey logan, and dual languages, which is essential because you have chinese and japanese speakers. But the camp dubbing was still exceptable. The format that I have is in between a 16:9 and a letter boxed edition, so I didn't really notice myself missing anything I shouldn't have. Everything I speak of next are all on the Hong Kong Legends version, JUST MAKE SURE YOU CONTACT THE SELLER TO MAKE SURE IT IS THE SPECIAL EDITION. Special edition is region 2 so it would be your best bet just to get an all-region DVD player. But if you are lazy liek me, the red sun version is region free and will play in American DVD players for sure.
And the interview with NG see-yuen and roy huran is AWESOME. They talk about a lot of things. Corey yuen and how much respect the japanse action director's had for him. How NG discovered Hwang, a good story of Hwang Lee going to fight with someone, and a story of Hwang Jang Lee's loyalty and why NG decided to make Hwang a star after Secret Rivals. It is a really touching story. And roy horan(white guy from snake in eagle's shadow, game of death 2, and snuff bottle connection) has a really good interview talking about the career of conan lee. I have always talked about how the movie industry, just like in the us, was always run by the mafia. In fact it still is very much so run by the triads. Of course it happens in america, but not enough to become a big story again. So conan lee was american born loyd hutchison when Roy Horan found him. It was probably NG, btu Roy seems o have taken the credit. It does a good job of explaining hwo movie stars are a lot like sports stars, how they sign a 3-picture deal, then after teh 1st movie, the actor wants to renegotaite his contract. I mean, didn't you sign this freaking contract, or or you just teller owen's long lost brother? The when american directors was asked to use conan, NG would say, " he is working with me right now on a project, I will let you use him when he is done". So because of this, NG got beaten down and was in the hospital for 6 months. So that is why you see conan in wonderful movies like gymkata. And his career REALLY died after the word got out that he was had enforcers working for him. And it really is a damn shame that he brought this upon himself. When you think of guys like Leung Kar Yan who is also know as beardy. He is good at screen fighting, but not an acrobat by any means. Well, conan fits the bill for a PERFECT screen fighter. I mean the fact that he almost looks as good as sanada, which is pretty unbelievable, because sanada is literally doing flips all over the place, but conan jkeeps up with him step for step. Sorry you missed your chance conan, you were in one of the top 15 kung fu movies of all time.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Hiroyuki Sanada steals the show in this epic martial arts/ninja film, December 14, 2011
This review is from: Long zhi ren zhe (DVD)
Ninja in the Dragon's Den is an awesome kung fu/ ninja film. Hiroyuki Sanada plays the Ninja, who is killing government officials and who has MAD ninja skills, while Conan Lee plays the student of a ninja. Both are at each other's throats, constantly one-upping another, and finally they settle their differences just in time to face the spiritual boxer played by Hwang Jang Lee, who seeks out Conan Lee because he belittles the spiritual boxer's student early in the film. I own the Red Sun dvd version of Ninja is the Dragon's Den (aka Long zhi ten she), 1982, directed by Corey Yuen, produced by Ng See Yuen (Sbake in the Eagle's Shadow). The film is 96 minutes long, with English dubbing, and the box says 2.35: 1, which is a nice widescreen version on my HDTV. No subtitles available. Overall, one of the best kung fu/ martial arts films out there. The dvd quality leaves a little something to be desired, but the story is great, the fighting is amazing, and it was extremely entertaining, especially any part involving ninja Hiroyuki Sanada. Top 20 favorite kung fu flick of mine. 4.5 out of 5 stars.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Loved this movie when I was a kid, now my kids love it too, March 10, 2008
This review is from: Long zhi ren zhe (DVD)
This movie has the most memorable fight scenes, not just for the action but for the laughs as well! The fight scene in the restaurant with Conan Lee and the Godskills "expert" was hilarious! Conan Lee was at his best in this film, playing the wannabe Kung-fu master.
Grew up with most of Henry Sanada's films, it took a while for him to make it to the US, but better late than never! He brings a certain presence and intensity to his performance than the likes of Jackie Chan and Donnie Yen, who have somewhat limited acting skills.
My kids just saw "Kenji" in Rush Hour 3, but they have been a fan of "Ninja in the Dragon's Den" long before the RH3 release.
Definitely among my top 10 favorite martial arts movies of all time.
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