Revenge Of The Ninja
Revenge Of The Ninja (1983) Rewatch: ✅
It's been one of those times where it's taken me three days and multiple efforts to watch a film I'd deliberately picked out to rewatch precisely because it's a no brainer. Unfortunately, I kept nodding off (It's me, not the film) and sure, I could have just accepted my fate but the thing is, I really bloody love Revenge Of The Ninja. I was not going to be so easily defeated.
One of a handful of Cannon's Ninja films and importantly, the one with the best box art too. Is it my favourite? I couldn’t say but once it finally kicks into action and settles into silly ninja territory, it’s fucking glorious.
The film has a serious heavy eighties synth soundtrack, sort of cod-Tangerine Dream stuff but as ever with Cannon Ninja films, it’s the sound effects that take it into the realms of the heavenly. Every schwoop of a shuriken, every phwip phwip phwip quickfire movement, every slap and thud is dreamy, the stuff of a thousand school playgrounds and some poor bastard getting kicked in the back or something. It’s beautiful. The evil ninja dude even does theatrical villain laughs when carrying out their evil ninja schemes. Everything is as it should be.
It all culminates in a showdown between a good ninja and a bad ninja where they’re basically just pulling more ridiculous weaponry on each other, including … a life size wooden evil ninja. How can you not love that? How does that even work? Where do you keep such a thing? Much less two of them. Amazing.
What a brilliant film. Watch it.