Tongan Ninja

First off, this movie is not to be taken seriously or compared to other Ninja movies. It is a total comedy/parody. If you are not a fan of ninja movies then see this! If you are a fan of ninja movies and have a sense of humor then see this! The character Action fighter is Jemaine Clement who is one half of Flight of the Conchords, a comedy act. They are a wonderful act so it ties into the comedy of this film. This comedy is what I call stupid funny, it is so stupid that it is funny! It is from a bunch of comedic friends who decided to make a movie, pretty good effort! What is nice as well are the extras like commentary, and the making of the film which is also funny. Seriously, take this movie lightly and enjoy some good laughs!

I own the DVD. I had to have it. It is just unfortunate that this piece of cinematic brilliance (Use your own judgment) only screened once in New Zealand (and as an ARTS film ?!?) when it received accolades in countries such as Finland and Bulgaria! I recommend it to anyone with a NZ sense of humor and also anyone who liked Kung Pow. I recommend it to all my friends. Then I hear that they recommended it to all their friends as well. I am still waiting for someone to tell me they did not like this move.

Be sure to check out the special features too. Lord of the Ring's Peter Jackson displays a rare view of his acting talent. If he is for this movie - you should be too!

I read a review of this film which compared it to Bruce Lee's Way of the Dragon. What really astounded me about this review was that it's author actually took this movie seriously, as if it were striving for acceptance as a martial arts film.

Why is this world full of people who take things too literally and lack a sense of humour? Tongan Ninja is an hysterical little (dare I say) home-made indy picture with the sole purpose of generating a laugh or two. I don't think there was a 20 second gap in which i wasn't laughing.

To get the most out of this film, do as I did and gather a lot of friends together and watch it in numbers.... unless you are one of the mentioned people I spoke of before who don't have a sense of humour and take everything in life literally (you are the people who will die prematurely). I guarantee you will cack yourself stupid! If you're a fan of Kung-Pow... see Tongan Ninja. If anything, watch it for the opening credit sequence. Pure Gold!

Well-pitched parody. Its strength is that it doesn't take itself seriously but clearly appreciates (and sweetly imitates) the over-dubbed corny kung fu movie genre. The DVD commentary is very loose and laid-back (often funny) but explains why the movie was so suited to parodying this style: it took 3 years to film, on a minimal budget. The over-dubbing was necessary because they couldn't afford sound recording on set. It was a simple extra step to deliberately mis-time the dubbing (or you could take the word of the lead actor that they were all carefully schooled in the art of speaking lines out of sync with their lips). A cult movie, best viewed with a group of friends, some popcorn and a few beers. I highly recommend the "extras" on the DVD: hilarious cast interviews as well as interviews with Peter Jackson (who always wanted to make the movie, couldn't get the rights and had to settle for making LOTR).

I accidentally stumbled across this film while pay-TV channel surfing & I was left in stitches of this high farce. This film really does fall into the category of "it's so bad it's good".

The great thing about Tongan Ninja is that it doesn't take itself seriously, it knows that it is cheap, silly & instead of trying hide from this cheapness, it revels in it.

Dodgy stunts, bad & unnecessary dubbing, bad guys giving a runny commentary of themselves being beaten up by Tongan Ninja, a love story and a fearsome looking All Blacks rugby star, Tongan Ninja has it all! Catch it if you get the chance & leave your brains at the door.