I'm a MASSIVE fan of trashy Indonesian films. These flicks, typically combining Asian martial arts styles with over the top special effects and gore, are just the kind of movie that appeals to me. I've seen a fair few now, and I'm hungry for more, so when I learnt that director Ratno Timoer made a crazy ninja film in the same year as his DEVIL'S SWORD, I just KNEW I had to see it. Now that I have, I'm glad that I did, although unfortunately REVENGE OF NINJA isn't the crazy thrill-ride that I was expecting.
The problem with this film is momentum. The first hour is pretty slow and uneven, with lots of boring moments (including some hideously cheesy 'romance' scenes on a beach with a dune buggy). This is despite the regular martial arts battles, which consist of our heroes – whose limbs sound like they're made of wood – duking it out with a bunch of energetic, but untrained bad guys. It's only in the last twenty minutes or so that this movie starts to offer some of the madness that we know and love from the likes of the WARRIOR trilogy. Until then, what we have is a lightweight movie, shot on the extreme cheap and with not a great deal going on.
The plot, involving the hunt for a magic necklace, is routine – and uninteresting – in the extreme. This whole film may be a satire on the curse of materialism, revealing the extent to which man is prepared to go for possessions. In this case, the nihilistic climax fits in nicely. Somehow, though, if this is the case then it missed me by. What I see is a slim, almost two-dimensional action yarn that borrows liberally from what has gone before. The backdrop, characters, and setting seem to be crossed between genres. There are groups of guys riding around in 'futuristic' vehicles (i.e. cars and jeeps with flames painted on the sides) with heavy weaponry who instantly remind you of MAD MAX 2. Then there are the wizards and kung fu masters who seem to have strolled in from a typical '70s old-school chop-socky affair. It left me scratching my head, let me tell you.
The usual offenders show up time and time again in these Indonesian flicks, and this film's no exception. Barry Prima is, once more, the straight cut and muscular young dude who ends up fighting evil. Dana Christina is his girlfriend. Advent Bangun, who played the blind swordsman in THE WARRIOR AND THE BLIND SWORDSMAN, is supposedly the ninja of the title, although all he does is dress in black and use throwing stars on occasion. There are lots of other familiar faces, like stock bad guy W. D. Mochtar.
After struggling through the first routine hour, I was pleased when things started to pick up. I think the turning point was the scene in which the ninja kicks the tar out of an acrobatic hunchback (!). He knocks this guy to the ground and then, in a cruel twist, stamps repeatedly on his 'hunch' until he dies. It's hard to remember that this ninja chap is an ambivalent good guy. Then there's more goodness, such as when the chief bad guy and his wizard buddy head underground to resurrect this massive, bald zombie guy who I think played the 'iron man' in WARRIOR AND THE NINJA. This resurrection involves a flying heart (flying internal organs being popular in Indonesian horror cinema) and a nail hammered into a skull, with shades of Chinese mythology. Finally there's a squad of zombies who look like they've been modelled on the mouldy cadavers in that classic of Italian undead cinema, BURIAL GROUND.
The ending is action packed and brilliant. In fact, the last half hour is so entertaining that I raised my review by a point just because of it. There's a nice homage (or rip-off) of the classic Chuck Norris windscreen kick at the end of GOOD GUYS WEAR BLACK, and plenty of martial arts duels. There isn't as much gore as you normally see in Indonesian cinema, but some guy does have his internal organs pulled out of his chest, and other guys explode, which is pretty much the norm. If you hate these type of films, then there's no point watching REVENGE OF NINJA, purely because you'll find nothing new or original. If you find them strangely charming, then you'll probably enjoy it, like I did.
The problem with this film is momentum. The first hour is pretty slow and uneven, with lots of boring moments (including some hideously cheesy 'romance' scenes on a beach with a dune buggy). This is despite the regular martial arts battles, which consist of our heroes – whose limbs sound like they're made of wood – duking it out with a bunch of energetic, but untrained bad guys. It's only in the last twenty minutes or so that this movie starts to offer some of the madness that we know and love from the likes of the WARRIOR trilogy. Until then, what we have is a lightweight movie, shot on the extreme cheap and with not a great deal going on.
The plot, involving the hunt for a magic necklace, is routine – and uninteresting – in the extreme. This whole film may be a satire on the curse of materialism, revealing the extent to which man is prepared to go for possessions. In this case, the nihilistic climax fits in nicely. Somehow, though, if this is the case then it missed me by. What I see is a slim, almost two-dimensional action yarn that borrows liberally from what has gone before. The backdrop, characters, and setting seem to be crossed between genres. There are groups of guys riding around in 'futuristic' vehicles (i.e. cars and jeeps with flames painted on the sides) with heavy weaponry who instantly remind you of MAD MAX 2. Then there are the wizards and kung fu masters who seem to have strolled in from a typical '70s old-school chop-socky affair. It left me scratching my head, let me tell you.
The usual offenders show up time and time again in these Indonesian flicks, and this film's no exception. Barry Prima is, once more, the straight cut and muscular young dude who ends up fighting evil. Dana Christina is his girlfriend. Advent Bangun, who played the blind swordsman in THE WARRIOR AND THE BLIND SWORDSMAN, is supposedly the ninja of the title, although all he does is dress in black and use throwing stars on occasion. There are lots of other familiar faces, like stock bad guy W. D. Mochtar.
After struggling through the first routine hour, I was pleased when things started to pick up. I think the turning point was the scene in which the ninja kicks the tar out of an acrobatic hunchback (!). He knocks this guy to the ground and then, in a cruel twist, stamps repeatedly on his 'hunch' until he dies. It's hard to remember that this ninja chap is an ambivalent good guy. Then there's more goodness, such as when the chief bad guy and his wizard buddy head underground to resurrect this massive, bald zombie guy who I think played the 'iron man' in WARRIOR AND THE NINJA. This resurrection involves a flying heart (flying internal organs being popular in Indonesian horror cinema) and a nail hammered into a skull, with shades of Chinese mythology. Finally there's a squad of zombies who look like they've been modelled on the mouldy cadavers in that classic of Italian undead cinema, BURIAL GROUND.
The ending is action packed and brilliant. In fact, the last half hour is so entertaining that I raised my review by a point just because of it. There's a nice homage (or rip-off) of the classic Chuck Norris windscreen kick at the end of GOOD GUYS WEAR BLACK, and plenty of martial arts duels. There isn't as much gore as you normally see in Indonesian cinema, but some guy does have his internal organs pulled out of his chest, and other guys explode, which is pretty much the norm. If you hate these type of films, then there's no point watching REVENGE OF NINJA, purely because you'll find nothing new or original. If you find them strangely charming, then you'll probably enjoy it, like I did.
