Mirai Ninja: Keiun Kinin Gaiden

This movie is nothing amazing for sure. Yet it is very interesting scifi retro futuro B-class movie with a lot of swordplay and somewhat acceptable effects.

The only way how to describe this movie is mix of Star Gate with a lot of Kurosawa and maybe a little bit of Tron and Doom (the computer game, not the movie). Both parties, the cyber demons and the humans fight as they would were teleported from medieval Japan. The story leaves a lot of parts unexplained and it is open for the imagination of the viewer as it it typical for "genuine, non-Westernized" Japanese movies. This is not bad in general but it will probably leave a lot of Western viewers confused.

The movie is definitely not something special. It is probably not worthy to seek on DVD either. But it is enjoyable and well done in terms of its probably tight budget so it is not insult of the viewer nor a loss of time. It allows us to see "retro cyber punk" as it is perceived by the Japanese authors. It is comparable to "Mutant Chronicles" which is not miracle either but it is solid fun anyway. I think the more hardcore scifi fans will like it.

I liked this. Granted, the Godzilla-like sfx are laughable at times...but I kind of like that part about it too. Regardless of what a previous review has said, this IS a little like Star Wars. The original three movies especially. However it is also like Godzilla, Krull, Tron,Dune and any number of science fiction movies made in the eighties. you have your laser blasts, your enemies wearing strange costumes, your princess that needs saving etc. What's cool about this movie is that it's from Japan and so its ALSO like anime and you have all these shinto symbols and what not. The first scene of the movie looks an awful lot like the movie Ran, (the samurai version of King Lear)and if you take away the scifi elements its stylistically extremely similar. In fact, one of the actors worked in both movies!

Anyway, maybe this movie isn't for everybody, but if you like Godzilla movies, or eighties scifi, or if you've ever enjoyed an episode of mystery science theater 3000, you'll probably like this movie.

Wow. MST3K fans check this film out out, especially the English dubbed version. It's absolutely hilarious- so bad it's good. The story is ridiculous, the hero is stupid, and the villains are like something from Power Rangers. One of the villains looks like he has a bunch of snow crabs glued to his back. I especially love the horrible dubbing. For example, the opening fight sequence involves a man (our hero, I believe) rolling down a hill. Instead of the oof's and oww's that one might imagine a man rolling down hill would make, he screams like he's been chucked over a 300 ft. cliff. God, I couldn't stop laughing. A funny movie that's not supposed to be.

I really enjoyed this film. Is there some cheese? Sure, but Keita Amemiya's films are so very entertaining and use every trick in the book to successfully suspend disbelief and add in great effects. Usually these kinda cool effects are just things you wont see in other films. For open minded, Japanese sci fi lovers this is a fun film with use of some minatures and decent lighting. Really love Zeiram, Zeriam 2, and Moon Over Tao as well from the same director. Cyber Ninja is a hard standalone film to source, but comes in a set called The Ninja Collection on dvd with english dub and decent quality- like a very good vhs tape.

Ahh, "Cyber Ninja," where to begin with you?

I got to see this movie at a gaming convention during a weekend-long program wherein a group of people in lab coats showed B-movies to test subjects and then monitored them, keeping track of who said the most funny comments during the movies. Sound familiar? If you're a fan of MST3K, it should. And if you can track down a copy of this movie, you'll probably be able to come up with as many riffs as I did.

I realize I haven't said anything about the movie yet, but that's just as well. The more you discover for yourself as you watch, the more brazen and outlandish the whole thing becomes. Suffice to say, it's a Japanese rip-off of "Star Wars" with "Power Rangers"-type villains and some of the silliest-looking ninja I've ever seen in my life. (Once you see how the mecha-ninja get around, you'll know what I'm talking about.)

Calling this movie "reminiscent of 'Star Wars'" -- as somebody did in the blurb on the front of the box -- is amusing since it's set in a quasi-futuristic feudal Japan (with laser guns and sword battles existing side-by-side), and "Star Wars" itself is "reminiscent" of Akira Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress" (i.e. Lucas stole characters and plot points wholesale from it). Does that make this a second generation rip-off? Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I think it does.