Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Ninja: The Violent Sorcerer; here's the breakdown of my ratings:
Story: 0.50
Direction: 0.75
Pace: 1.00
Acting: 1.00
Enjoyment: 0.75
TOTAL: 4 out of 10
Ninja: The Violent Sorcerer is a hodgepodge of thrown together ideas, which the writer/director hoped would work. The strange thing is, some do, though most don't.
One of my main gripes with the story is the characters. Godfrey Ho couldn't be bothered to give them names, just monickers. So we get the ludicrous brands of Gambling King and Gambling Master. Given that, they don't sound too terrible here. However, in the story's context, when everyone refers to them by their given titles, which they do themselves, they ring ridiculous. Plus, the games they play aren't games; they are proof of skill. One is how to tumble dice to make them manifest as you require. In this case, either a one or a six dot, and usually in nice neat rows. The second is how to shuffle and cut a deck of cards so when you deal, they reveal themselves to be in numerical and suit order - sounds a little like cheating to me. I have to admit that when the King and Master teams get tumbling and shuffling, it's delightful to behold. The trouble is that King is cheating by using a black magic sorcerer and his army of vampires to control the dice and cards. The trickery leads to the Master losing the bet and taking his life as a consequence. Enter his best friend and his best friend, who team up to avenge the unjust death. And this is when the tale gets a smidgen more silly as the avenging duo bring in their own magic-man to counteract the evil conjuring. The story is badly structured with dull and unrealistic characters and situations. So much so that I would have hated to read the script or the story. Lamentably, the most disagreeable part is the ending. It feels rushed and untrue. As though Ho wanted to add a twist to what would have been a logical ending. Like so many other things, it doesn't work. I was left feeling confused and disappointed.
The direction isn't too much better. Though, Ho is pretty good at filming the action sequences. The fight scenes are okay; the first one is the best when our hero's friend shows up pretending to be a vampire. For some reason, Chinese Vampires move like Tigger from Winnie The Pooh. They bounce around everywhere. Ninja is the first film I've seen that addresses their fighting style, and the first fight demonstrates it best. I also delighted in the dice tumbling and card dealing scenes. Both are well thought out and executed. Very entertaining. Indeed the action segments are the most engaging scenes in the picture. Sadly, when the action dies, so does the film. The pacing becomes languid, and you have to listen to the poorly translated dialogue. After watching a few Asian dubbed movies, I know this issue often occurs. However, Ninja is one of the worst. And it doesn't help that they had the wrong vocal talents to overdub.
Bad vocals aside, the cast is okay in their performances. However, the Gambling King does present himself as too earnest. I know he's driven to be the best, but he looks constipated for the most part. The guy playing our hero should have taken some lessons from him because he appears too unconcerned at times, which is never virtuous for an avenger - just ask The Hulk. Big Greenies brows are constantly furrowed with impetus and anger.
Ninja: The Violent Sorcerer isn't a great film, but it does possess some good parts. But, not enough for me the recommend watching. Nevertheless, should you see it on a streaming service for free, you could always give it a look-see, or just fast forward to the exciting bits.
Please feel free to visit my Absolute Horror, Killer Thriller Chillers, and Obsidion Dreams lists to see where I ranked Ninja: The Violent Sorcerer.
Take Care & Stay Well.
