SoTrumpBelieve
Must See Movie...
BelSports
This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
Raymond Sierra
The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
Tango and Cash
Any movie with the same cliché plot as "Ernest Goes to Camp" is gonna be a real stinker - particularly if it tries to be serious. Evil corporation tries to bully virtuous protagonist into selling land. Snooze.The characters are paper thin. There is no backstory to any of them - aside from the two main guys being former war buddies. Where did the poofy-haired character meet his British/Australian wife? How did they fall in love? Where did they meet? And most troublesome - how does a former soldier have the money to live in a mansion with beautifully landscaped gardens? Yikes.What war or mission in Africa did the ONE flashback come from? This was supposed to show the bond the two male characters had, but all it did was confuse me even more. What part of Africa (a huge continent)? What war? How did the war turn out? What did they end up doing after the war? Why is he living in the Phillipines? Why is the British/Australian wife so attached to the land? As she said herself, there is nothing but crime, gangsters, and poverty in their rural "town." Why would she want to stay, particularly since they're offering her and her husband millions of dollars for their house? Everything in this movie was confusing. Could have been written and directed and acted by college freshmen. 3/10.
trashgang
Enter The Ninja came out on the now famous Cannon label. It was the start of Cannon's legendary action movies and also Enter The Ninja is the godfather of the American ninja flicks. It started the craziness of ninja flicks in the eighties. So it took me exactly 30 years to discover this flick due that I'm collecting VHS and came across many Cannon flicks. This one is luckily available on DVD but so many Cannon's aren't. Don't expect to have a real gem hear. The actors weren't that good and it's more about the fighting scene's that you watch it. The effects used were the real stuff, CGI wasn't available back then for a flick that only costs a million and half dollars to make. But it is a classic and also a Franco Nero classic. Many do find the fight scene's laughable and stupid but again, this was made by a label known for low budget flicks, exploitation and horror (Lifeforce "Tobe Hooper" was their first outcome). Just watch it for fun.
Michael_Elliott
Enter the Ninja (1981) * 1/2 (out of 4) The first film in the series features Franco Nero as a war veteran who finishes training at a ninja school and goes to visit a friend and his wife (Susan George) and discovers they are getting pushed around by a creep (Christopher George) wanting to force them off their land. Nero is able to keep the bad guys away with his ninja skills but soon the baron hires a ninja (Sho Kosugi) to take care of him. Soon Nero and Kosugi are doing battle. ENTER THE NINJA is the first in the series and clearly the weakest, which is due in large part to the poor direction by Golan. I think it's also safe to say that these American ninja movies were a major, major step down from the brilliance of Akira Kurosawa but you wouldn't know it by Golan's direction. He really thinks he must be doing a serious piece of art and its this serious nature that slows the movie down and in the end kills it. I think the best of these American ninja movies are the ones that know they're corny and just want to deliver entertainment. Sadly this one here doesn't offer much in terms of entertainment. Even the opening where Nero, in his white ninja outfit, does battle against a group of ninjas just comes off flat and deadly boring. From this point on there are many different fight sequences but none of them pack any punches and more often than not you're just sitting there waiting for something exciting to happen but it never does. Nero was trading in his Western gear for this here and isn't all that convincing as the ninja. There wasn't a single second where I believed him in this role and you can tell that he seems rather bored throughout. Susan George offers up the typical George performance but it is worth noting that this was the first film I've seen where she doesn't get naked. Christopher George isn't much better but at least he goes over-the-top with his role and at least manages to get a couple laughs. Kosugi is pretty much wasted as he only appears in a couple sequences including the ending where he does battle with Nero. The direction by Golan is just way too dramatic for its own good and he really doesn't know how to build up any momentum or suspense. Since he goes all dramatic on us it takes away any possible camp moments but I must admit that the neck-breaking sound effects are among the worst I've ever heard. The music score is also downright horrid. Considering the two sequels did manage to get better you can't help but rate this one as a flop.
Jacob
Back in the old days they did make some great action movies and Enter the ninja is one of them.The plot is simple and efficient. Cole (Nero) after mastering ninjitsu visits his friend Frank (Alex Courtney) in the Philippines. Frank and his gutsy wife (Susan George) are being oppressed by the local oil tycoon Charles Venarius (Christopher George) who wants to get hold of their land at all costs. What happens next probably won't be hard to guess. Above all this movie is very impressive for its' memorable characters - we had here Siegfried 'The Hook', Dollars, Mr. Parker. I think there's no need to say that Christopher George shined in this film to say the least. And his death scene at the end is really something. Well, and of course Franco Nero did a marvelous job playing ninja. And Sho Kosugi gets the credit not only for brilliantly playing the negative role but also for masterfully directing the fighting scenes. It's one of those movies that when watching you might want to partially go over again, I'm telling you, it's very spectacular.
