After he is fatally wounded, the Black Ninja (David Chung) possesses a passing lineman/aerobics instructor Christie Ryder (Lucinda Dickey).
Christie is in the fight of her life to free herself from the evil ninja, who is determined to exact revenge on his killers.
Only Christie and rival ninja Goro (Sho Kosugi) stand in his way.
This movie is great. It is so good I would recommend watching the movie knowing as little as possible.
The only thing you need to know is that the movie’s title is a complete mis-sell. This movie is the third in a trilogy of unrelated ninja tales released in the early eighties by the Cannon Group (responsible for the Death Wish sequels, Superman IV, Lifeforce, Runaway Train, Masters of the Universe and the Breakin’ movies).
While its title is generic and it steals from a bunch of other, better movies, Ninja III assembles its constituent parts in such a way that it ends up resembling nothing else. Such is the beauty of Cannon Group - their movies are like looking at American pop culture through a funhouse mirror.
Every element in the movie is both identifiable and also off. There are combinations of ingredients which do not usually go together - the opening action sequence features a ninja attacking golfers (including chasing after a golf cart); our heroine goes into full flashdance mode to ward off a possession while her apartment comes to life around her.
The acting is wooden but that emotional disconnect adds to the movie’s atmosphere. Same with the production values - the simplicity of the settings and lack of extras make the film feel more alien and fantastical.
And in terms of narrative progression, Ninja III manages to be both simple and baffling - this movie is a combination of extended set pieces bracketed by narrative ellipses that remove any sense of character development or discovery. The characters do learn things, but they do not react to them like they are consequential.
Somehow this is one of those glorious circumstances where every creative decision - made in total sincerity - is pushing the movie away from genre and toward its own surreal world. I would not call it outsider art, but it is definitely outside the kind of movie promised by the title.
I have not seen enough ninja movies to declare this the best ninja movie ever made, but I doubt that the genre contains any entry as singular as Ninja III - The Domination.
If you are new to this blog, I also co-host a podcast on James Bond, The James Bond Cocktail Hour.
You can subscribe on iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts.
No comments:
Post a Comment