Back in the ’80s and early ’90s a month didn’t go by without the release of a Ninja movie. From Ninja terminates, Ninja the domination, Revenge of the Ninja, Enter the Ninja, Ninja in the Dragon’s den etc. Most being terrible. Let’s face it, the legendary Bloodsport. Frank dux is trained in the art of Ninjutsu, he’s a ninja. But there are a few gems in the sea of Ninja movies. But which ones are truly worth a watch?
Well after days of sitting through mind-boggling cheesy ninja movies. And I’m talking Ashida Kim type stuff, the art of Ninja invisibility. I can’t watch them all as there are too many but the main ones. I think I’ve managed to narrow it down to 5. Here are my top 5 Ninja movies. This is mainly movies that predominantly feature ninjas, not necessary as the good guys but also not including any anime like the awesome Ninja Scroll.
5: America Ninja Series.
When I say series I mainly mean the first 2, maybe the 3rd. By today’s standard, they are not great. Quite cheesy but they are absolute cult classics and probably the most famous of all ninja movies. Who’s not heard of America ninja? So how can I not include them? It’s your clique story, An American soldier Joe T Armstrong (What a name) played Michael Dudikoff trained in the ancient art of Ninjutsu single handily takes on mercenaries in the Philippines using his ancient skills and techniques. Naturally, an evil ninja cult is out to stop him lead by the grandmaster. Cue you’re typical dressed in black ninjas coming out of the woodwork to fight Armstrong. He trains some other soldiers along the way to help him such as Curtis Jackson played by Steve James. You know it’s funny, you get these so-called ninjas trained their whole life and they are getting taken out by guys trained for five minutes. I remember the 5th one. David Bradley takes over as lead and he trains this kid for all of an afternoon and now the kid can take out well-trained ninjas by himself, amazing. American Ninja is still worth a watch today to see what all the fuss is about.
4: The Hunted
Not many people seem to mention or have even seen this one but it’s one of the best movies featuring Ninjas I’ve seen. Christopher Lambert stars as Paul Raccine, a businessman visiting Japan. He witnesses 3 ninjas assassinating a woman he met in the hotel bar. He gets wounded, but the trouble starts when he’s see’s the Ninja leader’s face making him a prime target and marking him for death. No one has ever seen the leaders face until now. He is helped by Takeda Sensei (Yoshio Harada) a samurai master. This leads back to the ancient rivalry between Samurai and Ninjas. No ninja cheese in this one, way better than most ninja movies.
3: Ninja
Starring Scott Adkins as Casey Bowman. A westerner once again trained in the art of Ninjutsu. He is tasked by his master to travel to America to project an ancient chest that contains the weapons and armour of the legendary ninja Koga. Cue the top rival student Masazuka at the same clan that becomes jealous of Casey’s friendship with a female student. During a routine sparring match, things get serious. Masazuka nearly kills Casey and Casey scars Masazuka below his eye. This leads to Masazuka getting expelled and turning bad making him the main antagonist of the movie. Yes, the story is a bit cheesy but the fights are truly awesome like most of Adkins work. This was the first truly modern ninja movie I saw
2: Ninja Assassin
Ninja Assassin truly brought Ninjas into the modern age. A big-budget release it stars Rain as Raizo, a young ninja and the next successor to the Ozuna ninja clan under the tutelage of lord Ozuna. He develops a romantic bond with a young Kunoichi (female ninja) named Kariko. Kariko becomes disheartened by Ozuna methods and tries to escape. She asks Raizo to come with her but he refuses. She is captured and executed in front of Raizo but elder ninja Takeshi (Rick Yune). Years later Raizo is sent on his first assassination. His target, a young kunoichi traitor. Remembering Kariko’s death, Raizo rebels, slashing Ozuna and fighting the rest of the Ninja, nearly being killed in the process. Years later, Raizo has healed and has trained to foil all of Ozuna assassination attempts. This sets him on a collision path with Takeshi.
Ninja Assassin is truly awesome. Buckets of blood, awesome fight scenes. You go and watch an old school Ninja movie like Ninja terminators or even American Ninja then watch Ninja Assassin and look at the difference.
1: Ninja: Shadow of a Tear
Scott Adkins returns as Casey Bowman in what has got to be the best Ninja movie I ever saw. Now the leader of the Kōga ninja dojo. His pregnant wife Namiko is killed by another ninja assassin. Seeking revenge, Casey is pointed in the direction of a Goro, the younger brother of Isamu. Isamu was the rival of Casey sensei and Makiko father Takeda. Isamu challenged Takeda for control of the Kōga ninja and is killed. Goro swore revenge and is the new head of a large drugs organization operating out of Burma. What follows is some truly awesome fights and one of the best one on one fights I ever saw. Check out my top martial arts fights list, it’s near the top. Ninja: Shadow of a Tear is one of Scott Adkins best movies. It’s up there with Undisputed.
In conclusion, many of you are probably wondering where the classics are? But seriously they have not aged well at all. Sitting through some of them, they seem more comedy now than ninja movies with some laugh out loud moments. Modern-day Ninja movies like Ninja Assassin wipe the floor with them.
