Enter the Ninja (1981)

Featured Audience Ratings

• David L

  
  This one is not easy to get a hold of ( no dvd release as of right now) , but if you can and appreciate Ninja flicks, I highly recommend it. It may seem a little cheesy to today's younger generation, but in the hype of the 80's Ninja movies - this one has got it all. Great… More
  This one is not easy to get a hold of ( no dvd release as of right now) , but if you can and appreciate Ninja flicks, I highly recommend it. It may seem a little cheesy to today's younger generation, but in the hype of the 80's Ninja movies - this one has got it all. Great fight scenes and the most Ninja weaponry skills that I've ever seen displayed on film to this day. Sho Kosugi was great as the bad guy, Hasegawa,(along with playing many of the masked bad guys chasing the lead through his final Ninja test in the opening of the film)and actor Franco Nero's (Cole) efforts were pretty convincing as the newly graduated American Ninja (with a lot of help from Martial Arts great and writer Mike Stone behind the white mask). The opening of the film with Kosugi doing fantastic Katas with weapons to the Ninja test was too cool. All scenes were beautifully shot and the chase/battle between rivals Hasegawa and Cole through the test was awesome. The landscape,weapons,and uniforms of the Ninjas in this film had the appearance of authenticity. Along with many neat fights in between, the final battle is still one of my personal favorites, as jealous Hasegawa is hired out (with evil pleasure),by badger tycoon Mr.Venarius, to assassinate his rival. A must see if you can find a copy of the film

• Cassandra M

  
  Well here it is ? this is the catalyst for the 1980's 'Ninja Craze' that swept the west by storm and spawned literally hundreds of similar themed movies from all around the world. In addition this also happens to be the film that propelled its REAL star (an actor who… More
  Well here it is ? this is the catalyst for the 1980's 'Ninja Craze' that swept the west by storm and spawned literally hundreds of similar themed movies from all around the world. In addition this also happens to be the film that propelled its REAL star (an actor who was actually playing the role of the movies main villain!) to super stardom literally overnight (if only for a modest while) and made him forever synonymous with such roles. Who was this actor? Well it was of course the legendary Sho Kosugi! While ninja had previously reared their heads on a number of occasions in western cinema, (probably most famously in the classic James Bond outing 'You Only Live Twice') THIS was the film that really catapulted them into the movie going publics eye. Such was the demand for ninja themed shenanigans following this films initial release that producers Golan-Globus were sagaciously swift to rush two sequels into production, namely The Revenge Of the Ninja (probably THE seminal 1980's ninja flick) and the sadly embarrassing Ninja 3: The Domination, again, both starring Kosugi (albeit in the more welcome role of the good guy) But enough of the history lesson?..what of the quality of the film being reviewed here I hear you cry? Well as it happens, it's rather solidly entertaining stuff! Franco Nero plays Cole, a westerner who through hard work and determination has against all odds (not to mention certain persons wishes) ascended to the top ranks of his ninja clan. Traveling to the Philippines to visit an old friend Cole finds that his deadly skills come in mighty handy when he is forced to stand against some local hoodlums. (In a morally ambiguous subplot he also manages to sleep with his best friend's wife ? but we won't go there?..!!!) In fact these hoodlums are merely puppets belonging to a much larger crime syndicate headed by a particularly ruthless boss (the always fun to watch Christopher George hamming it up wonderfully!) Seeing that Cole is laying waste to his plans, the crime lord takes drastic measures and hires Cole's old nemesis from Japan (Kosugi) to take care of him. Inevitably the two ninja must square off at the films climax with only one left alive by the final credits but which one shall be triumphant? Well you can probably guess?.. Aside from the odd casting of Nero in the lead (a great actor in his own right but woefully miscast here owing to the fact that he has blatantly no martial arts skills whatsoever) ? it has to be said that this is a great movie and is intrinsic viewing for fans of the genre. Of course the main attraction here though, is undoubtedly Kosugi himself, who succeeds in carrying a wonderful silent air of extreme menace in every single scene he appears in, in addition to entertaining us with some excellent martial arts demonstrations. Great stuff!

• James B

  
  Pretty terrible ninja movie! The acting was cheesy, which I didn't mind so much. However, the fights were pretty awful!

• Brett W

  
  Remember the scene from Pee Wee's Big Adventure where James Brolin stars as P.W. Herman, well that's this entire movie. It's like the director glimpsed into the future, saw Road House, and decided to preemptively take a cinematic dump of his own. This gem of a turd… More
  Remember the scene from Pee Wee's Big Adventure where James Brolin stars as P.W. Herman, well that's this entire movie. It's like the director glimpsed into the future, saw Road House, and decided to preemptively take a cinematic dump of his own. This gem of a turd features vastly unappealing actors doing remarkably little ninja-ing. Throw in some smarmy land grabbing baddies, a fat comic relief todie and you've got yourself one of the most underrated terrible movies of the 80's.

• Sean S

  
  Throwaway cheep martial arts flick.