Enter the Ninja (1981)

Officially, Chuck Norris' The Octagon is the film that first introduced ninjas to American cinema, but since "Enter the Ninja" is both blunter about their inclusion and provided stardom for the quintessential on-film shadow warrior, Sho Kosugi, I consider it to be at least as important in igniting the "ninja craze" of the 1980s. A production of our dearly departed Cannon Films, the movie initiates its particular subgenre with relatively tactless hammyness: it's pretty cheesy, and far from being a great martial arts film. Nevertheless, Cannon's made movies that are both far worse technically and far less entertaining. This one's worth seeing, if only for giggles.

The story: a world-weary war veteran-turned-ninja (Franco Nero, Django) visits his expatriate brother-in-arms (Alex Courtney, And the Band Played On) in Manila, where he becomes the only thing standing in the way of a greedy businessman (Christopher George, The Rat Patrol) attempting to seize his friend's plantation by force.

The movie's spiritual sequel, the far superior Revenge of the Ninja, would reverse the roles of the Caucasian hero-ninja and the evil Asian ninja, allowing Sho Kosugi a chance at being a protagonist. This works better all around, but truth be told, Franco Nero isn't awful in here: he's about as far removed from the ninja archetype as you can imagine, but he treats the role seriously, ends up being a better actor than I expected, and though he's doubled for at least portions of every fight scene, the few moves he does perform don't look too bad. Indeed, Nero may be just about the best performer in the film, since none of the rest of the relatively strong cast (including Susan George of Straw Dogs) perform their best under the direction of Menahem Golan (The Delta Force).

The concept of the ninja is provided mystique via lip service throughout the film, since the featured ninjas themselves aren't always awe-inspiring. Only Kosugi wears the traditional black jumpsuit, with the others adorned in maroon and white, and the only reason these clumsy buffoons are considered sneaky is because they deal with the dumbest, blindest, and deafest henchmen I've seen in a while. With that said, what they do is still kinda cool: a plethora of kobudo weapons are utilized with surprisingly bloody results, including at least two decapitations, numerous deaths by shuriken, and a bit of dismemberment here and there. The designated fight scenes are, for the most part, passable: there are five of them, and give Nero's double (karate champ and choreographer Mike Stone) ample opportunity to demonstrate his better-than-average physicality. What everyone's waiting for, of course, is the showdown between the white ninja (Nero) and the black ninja (Kosugi), but it's a bit disappointing: it's a full-on weapons fight and is shot well enough, but it's a bit too short and ends too abruptly for my liking.

The shooting location in the Philippines isn't particularly inspired but the Manila setting is a lot nicer to look at than the countless flicks shot in the country's more rural areas. That's another thing the film has going for it: as boneheaded as the storyline and acting might get, it's never boring, and moves at a good pace while clearly having fun with itself. It's definitely one of the better ninja flicks I've seen, but that's not really saying much. Luckily, this one's happily flawed enough for me to recommend it to just about anyone looking for a cool, silly good time. This one's worth watching, if only to say that you've seen it.