Customer Reviews

Ninja in the Deadly Trap

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Members of the "Five Venoms" made this film after leaving the Shaw Brothers studios. Don't pay attention the the review by "A reader from Tacoma,Washington". This film is not cut. He is confusing this film with the film Super Ninjas.

For some that title may mean very little (if anything?), however for most ardent kung fu fans it's a wet dream put to celluloid! The great Ti Lung (unfortunately kinda wasted here in a non-fighting role), as famous Chinese General Qi Jiguang, has become the target of ninja assassination from Japanese pirates who have had their exploits halted due to his actions. Knowing little about the art of ninjitsu, Qi sends his son out to find three mysterious fighters that can protect him from these stealthy attacks. Of course those 3 fighters happen to be none other then former Shaw Brothers action stars (collectively known as Venoms)Lu Feng, Chiang Sheng, and Kuo Chui (aka Philip Kwok, who also directs and choreographs this)! The leader of the ninja assasins is played by the always excellent Yasuaki Kurata, an actual Japanese martial artist who made his name, oddly enough, acting in Hong Kong action films (you may know him as the elder Japanese fighter that squares off against Jet Li in Fist Of Legend)... can this movie be bad?! Well, obviously I don't think so; though one knock I will mention is the film's deliberately paced first hour, taking it's time to get the pieces in order and set the stage. For those on the hunt for a non-stop fight fest, this could be problematic, although I never found it dull thanks in part to the aforementioned cast, and an all around well put together production. Direction, music, script, choreography, and effects are all very nicely done here... the lack of ineptitude is actually somewhat surprising as a fan of chop socky cinema; it is always appreciated though! Ninja In The Deadly Trap isn't quite on the level, and shouldn't be confused with, Chang Cheh's infamous cult classic Chinese Super Ninja's (where's that region 1 DVD?!), though it does take some obvious cues from that film (and was even produced by director Cheh). This movie has a more realistic feel to it, with less scenes filmed on a studio set, toned down gore, and ninja's that seem a tad more believable (although they do melt when they die LOL!)... on the flip side, the action isn't as good and doesn't happen nearly as much either. Ninja In The Deadly Trap just falls short of being an absolute martial arts classic, but it does provide a great watch, and delivers a finale (The Venoms versus Yasuaki Kurata!)that will leave most genre fans changing their bed sheets!

This is a film that I find myself struggling to say good things about. The bottom line is that this is a very subpar venom film. Its a movie that you will find yourself hoping will grow on you. If you ask me thats a lot to ask for a true fan of the genre.

this is the greatest kung fu movie of all time...period for instance it has what the five deadly venoms dident have ... a girl!!!lol and also the greatest fight scenes of any kung fu movie iv ever seen. iv seen the five deadly venoms the 36th chamber of shaolin ,king boxer aka five fingers of death, chinese super ninja dont get me wrong those movies r classic.....But its not a shaw brothers production who gives a F*#*. it still has three of the five venoms doing what i think is one of there greatest works! i know 1 of u out there reading this whos already seen this movie is thinking the same thing why is'nt this on any of the top ten lists..... i'll tell u why because it wasent produced by the shaw brothers. in closing there is no way u can call yourself a kung fu movie collecter and not own this film!

This movie was absolutely terrible. Chinese players in a ninja movie, there were relatively few ninja scenes in the movie. Fight scenes, with and without ninja were extremely indicative of pre-50's genre - VERY slow tempo striking, NOT entertaining whatsoever. No ninjutsu could be seen. Just plain lousy.

This is probably my best martial arts film of my collection. Nothing against "American Ninja", or "Enter the Dragon", but this movie has a decent plot that you can follow, not to mention how the brothers come together and understand what they must do! A must for any collection.

I've seen what some of the other reviewers have posted and I won't disagree with them for the simple fact that I haven't seen the movies that they mentioned. One person in particular said this was a ripoff of Super Ninjas or something like that....but I've never seen that movie and don't really care to see it, though I will watch it if I run across it. This movie I have seen. I don't know how I came across it, but I've always been intrigued by Ninjas even after their era in the 80's. So when I saw this film, I immediately fell in love with it. I didn't think it was boring at all and I thought the interaction with the 3 brothers and then knowing each other only by fighting style was pretty cool. I also liked that I saw a variety of ninjas in this movie. Not just the ninjas in their typical dark brown (Yes, their Shinobifuku was dark brown, not black like most people think.) I also like how they showed the ninja in their true form and that was when they were playing different roles, whether it was a soldier, cook, or doctor or whatever. It also showed them utilizing their many different weapons and not just the Sword and Shurikens.

This may have been done in other movies. But I haven't seen those. To anyone who happens to read this review, if you haven't seen those movies, whichever ones they might be, then you'll probably enjoy this movie as well. Will you not still enjoy it if you have seen movies similar to what I described? I don't know. But I've seen this movie and I'm pretty sure that if I do see the others that are similar to this, I'd still like them. But thats just me. *****'s

the story is pretty straight forward...it gathers everthing it needs to set up the storyline to bring the full packed ninja action against this magnificent 3 warrior brothers. You will see alot of different ninjas (black ninjas, sun ninjas, tree ninjas, and soil ninjas) using many kinds of deadly weapons including shruyuken. The sword fighting is straight up awesome. The only thing i complain is the fight between one of the three brothers against this one bodyguard of the boss during the final fight. Other than that, you will see deadly weapons used and raw kung fu fights in this flick. 4 stars

My favorite movie to watch in the 80's...Best fight scenes I've ever seen in a long time.. This movie will have you thinking your a ninja too.., but the end was cutabout...30 minutes..They show the sun ninjas..but they left out the underground ninjas...tree ninjas...and the black ninjas.. but if you've never seen it before, then you wont be missing out that much because this movie still kix azz.. 8-)

Ninja in the Deadly Trap is not a bad movie, it is just extremely boring. It seems to have a lot of waiting around until we get to the action. The 3 most acrobatic venoms play the good guys in this film which was certainly a change for Lu Feng. So the General played by Ti Lung has been attacked and he sends his son to find these 3 great fighters. Their master has a line straight out of 5 deady Venoms but this movie sticks more to the 'Chinese Super Ninja' style. In fact, it was made in the mid eighties around the same time as Super Ninjas was made. It really does feel like a cheap ripoff, not just of Super Ninjas, btu many other Venom films. I can still look beyond the incredibly boring and unoriginal story though and be happy with the great action. Phillip Kwok is just amazing with his choreography but even the action starts to feel cheap. You don't have those 30 movements in one shot like you used to for their Shawbrothers films, and we don't get those spectacular 10-15 minute fighting sequences. Still, seeing Lu Feng, Phillip Kwok, and Chiang Sheng go at it with Yusuaki Kuratu and other no names got me by for the night. Still, the biggest dissapointment was seeing Ti Lung in a non fighting role, I think that he got literally a single swipe with his sword. It's Ti Lung, did he break his leg or something before the shoot?

The commentary is ok but warning, they give away the entire plot of 'Chinese Super Ninjas'. They do give some good info on Sheng and Kwok, but don't even mentionj any of the Taiwanese films Sheng did like Ninja Death or Drunken Dragon or how he directed Ninja USA and Ninja Death... Picture is full screened but it is watchable.