C'mon this movie was bad... - Revenge of the Ninja (1983) Discussion

[–] demandred_999 21 years ago

By today's standards, yes. By the standard of fighting movies back then, sho kusugi was considered today's crouching tiger. No movies back then had swordplay or weaponplay or martial arts like that.

Before this movie, all the movies of any category with any sort of fighting were all conan the barbarian type or the excalibur type. They took roughly 3 seconds to complete a swing of a sword, moved very slowly, etc. Sho kusugi brought speed and finesse to the screen, although his acting was subpar, his fighting skills were excellent. His martial arts sparring with the good guy cop was about the best martial arts ever produced on the big screen up to that time. The cop was also the only other extra with any real skills. All the other fighters in the movies were just that.....extras. They moved slow like conan movie guys, etc. The good guy cop was actually the guy wearing the bad guy ninja suit for all the fighting scenes if you look at the credits.

Basically, these movies with a true master martial artist like kusugi paved the way for movies you see today.

Revenge of the ninja was the matrix/crouching tiger of its time. Unmatched.

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[–] Carpenter_Fan 20 years ago

Hi Demandred999,

I think you are mistaken about Keith Vitali, the guy who played Hatcher the good cop, being the masked ninja villian.

I believe it was a guy named Eddie Tse who played Arthur Roberts'(Braden) stunt double. This is in the credits.

Plus as you know the good cop fights the masked ninja in a pivotal scene and is killed by him, so it couldn't have been him.

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[–] andoniadistim 21 years ago

The movie was bad. Sho kosugi was awesome.

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[–] purpobandit 21 years ago

I agree

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[–] homisthecat 21 years ago

This movie rules! The first 3 minutes alone are amazing.. plus, where else can you see a 9 year old kid kick the asses of 5 other kids?

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[–] frankrul 20 years ago

I bought this DVD last night.
I grew up on this movie, but found I didn't remember too much of it apparently.
Literally, about every 5 minutes, I burst out laughing. I usually don't laugh during movies, even during good comedies I might get a good snicker or two, but this was ridiculous, I can't remember the last time a movie was so entertaining.
But I gotta say...

Best fight scene on the big screen at that point? Uhmm.. Bruce lee? Jackie Chan?
Maybe the first american, but def not the first big screen movie.

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[–] muddphudle 20 years ago

The finale on the roof was the most ridiculous scene. Especially the robot ninja decoys and the "firey" explosions.

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[–] Carpenter_Fan 20 years ago

Yeah the robotic stuff was cheesy, but all the weapons, including the fire pipe are legitimate weapons.

Save the robotic stuff, the fight on the roof was pretty cool.

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[–] 20 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ross-boyask 19 years ago

The film is hilarious in many ways but Kosugi rules the screen in the fight scenes. Just awesomely powerful in his technique. The fights are savage and "feel" very real as he dishes out the pain.

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[–] frankrul 18 years ago

I still swear to this day that this is the funniest movie I own..
Just wait till you see the scene where the mob boss decides to send "the village people" after kosugi... it's ridiculous.. there's an "indian" who tries to scalp him.. then later, in the park, kosugi an the cop run into a band of "ruffians" who look like the most cheeseball 80's losers i've ever seen in my life. You will never laugh harder than when they quickly cut to the shot of them all standing together by the picnic table. I'm laughing out loud, at work.. right now, *out loud*... and I haven't seen the movie in over a year...

One of the "ruffians" in the park has a long cowboy style moustache, just you WAIT to see kosugi *CUT OFF HALF OF HIS MOUSTACHE*!!!!!

ok, im at work, and im laughing hysterically now.. tears, streaming down my cheeks.. i gotta go.. seriously.. go buy this movie..

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[–] Movies_For_Life 19 years ago

That's 80's movies for you... kind of.

I thought it was ok since I seen it the other day for the first time, the only thing I thought that sucked was the fighting choreography, it's obvious from watching one time that all the fighting is fake, even most of Bruce Lee's movies made before this was had the best ever fighting choreography, you have to watch those old movies a few times to see that the fighting's not real. But Revenge of the ninja did have a good plot though.

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[–] DjfunkmasterG 16 years ago

While this movie is cheesy, it has some great fight scenes for an early 80's Martial Arts Flick. The Roof top and playground fights are just plain fun to watch, but yes there are many laughable moments to this flick.

Just a great part of 80's cheese cinema.
________
"Is this another "my dick is bigger than your dick" contest?

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[–] british1500 15 years ago

I remember watching this in bits & pieces on HBO as a kid. It gave me the illusion that ninjas are just plain unstoppable.

I watched it again on OnDemand, and the realism nitpicker comes into play nearly 30 years later.

1. Where'd the decoy ninja come from? Not something you can hide on your person easily.

2. Nice flamethrower. How does it function after being in a hot tub?

3. Does EVERYTHING you own have a blade concealed within? Including the walls of your dojo?

The list could go on and on.

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[–] the_bamboo_spear 14 years ago

Braden made the movie.

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[–] mst3kpimp 14 years ago

revenge of the ninja is still one of the best ninja movies, sure it's explotation to be sure but it's just got too much cool *beep* in it and the score is very effective. Certainly blows away lazy crap like "Ninja Assasin" Until someone makes some high caliber ninja movie this will be a high water mark.

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