White Phantom

As I mentioned in my review of Sakura Killers, this strange film appears to be a sequel of some sort to that earlier 80's martial arts film. I say strange because, in light of all of it's glaring shortcomings, cheapness, and overall lack of action - I really like it!

Or at least, I like the potential it has.

It seems that Sakura Killers was an Eastern/Western collaboration, with directors Wang Yu and Dusty Nelson taking turns in the captain's chair. White Phantom, it would appear, is just Nelson calling the shots, and it sort of shows in the actions areas of the film, but there's more going on here than meets the eye.

There are good and bad points to the film, but we'll start with the bad to get it out the way:

To start with, the film looks rough. It's as if someone deliberately sought out the worst locations on the planet for a ninja film, with grimy streets, claustrophobic bland interior shots, and scenes shot in dull, rainy weather. Believe me, if this is starting to sound cool, it's not. The budget was low so a lot of this is to be forgiven, although it's still noticeable. The opening and closing shots look really cool though, and there's some nice looking night time stuff. Apart from that, it's pretty meh.

As for the cast, it's all a bit par. Bo Svenson is hardly in the film (maybe Chuck Conners was unavailable) so it's hard to comment on his performance, but Jay Roberts Jr. is charmingly cheeky and he works well with Page Leong. The rest are really just faceless thugs, but in martial arts films people are hired for their look and action ability - not their acting skills. However, the fight scenes are a bit slow and sparse in the film, and THAT'S when you notice the lack of eastern co-operation in the production. It really lacks the dynamic, wide angle choreography of Hong Kong movies, or even the kind that was in Sakura Killers. Coupled with the fact that there's not many fights in the film anyway, and it's kind of like a porno with not much sex.

I think my biggest complaint is that having an American wise-ass as the White Ninja just doesn't do it for me. Where did he get the training, how did he meet the white clan? It's all just too full of unbelievable gaps. In my mind, Willy should have been a sidekick to the White Phantom and the film should have kept the two characters separate. Maybe he saved the Ninja's life and he now follows Willy around with a life debt? It's far more believable than a westerner being adopted into a clan of ninja that's mythical even to the Japanese.

The good points are that it has a lot of atmosphere, and there is a real mystique surrounding the ninjas and their history. There's a slight John Carpenter vibe going on, and I actually like the inclusion of the dance sequence, because choreography of any kind is good in my book. The best bits though, are undoubtedly when Hanzo is talking with his father - a masked figure whose face we never see, and who is voiced amazingly by (so the credits say!) veteran voice actor Greg Snegoff of Robotech fame. Interestingly, this was also the same voice of Sugiyama the ninja master in Sakura Killers. The film get's interesting when this mysterious man talks about a renegade clan of white ninja reaching far back in history, and you get niblets of maybe the Sakura family were not always evil. There's a lot of untapped history here, and it feels like there could have been a third entry in the Sakura series as the film does leave the door open for more to happen, but I guess it didn't.

A great feature of the film is that we get to see the use of traditional ninja weapons like the straight sword and climbing grips There's also a really nice, but again very brief, kendo demonstration.

One thing I also really, REALLY appreciate is the fact that when the non-white characters speak to each other they do so in their native language. That was very rare back then, but it adds so much to the authenticity of the setting, so Kudos to Nelson for making that choice.

The score is also really good, with some rockin' 80's synth happening and some very good oriental tinged mystical cues which really add to the vibe.

White Phantom is perfectly watchable, and that's more that can be said for most films. Watching it again it's better than I remembered it being, however, the grubby production design, drawn out 'acting scenes', and clumsy fight choreography will send most hardcore martial arts buffs, reaching for the stop button.

However, if you are into ninjas and love Sakura Killers, then White Phantom is worth a look for the rather good cultural displays. If it had better fight scenes (and more of them) then it could have been a VHS classic, but as is, it's an interesting oddity which is perhaps more clever that people give it credit for.