Starring - Man Fei (American Commando Ninja), Patrick Largent (Power Kids, Team of Prodigies), and Martin Chan
Release Date - 1988
Genre - Action
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)
Tagline - "A spy who will stop at nothing to complete his mission . A scientist who is torn between love for the present and terror of the past"
Rating (out of 5):
I've been a fan of kung fu and martial arts movies longer than I have the horror genre. My dad bought some of these films on tape from someone and from that night on I was hooked. I would watch them with my grandma and on several occasions I would pick one of these films over a horror title. A few weeks back I was sent the double feature of Born a Ninja and Commando the Ninja from my friends over at Visual Vengeance. I had just received two releases from them a few days prior and decided that when I had the time I would turn this into a marathon. After Fungicide and The Screaming, I hit this double feature with Born a Ninja first. I want to thank Visual Vengeance and MVD for sending this one along for review!
Tanaka, a scientist with a past, is unable to face the sight of the atrocities he committed as a germ-war researcher during WWII. Martin, miraculously returns from the dead, recruits an ace but evil Ninja, Simon, to retrieve Tanaka and the formula. Lung, a master of a lost art joins the battle and goes head-on with Simon. The Japanese samurai and the Chinese martial arts finally encounter. battle between Ninjitsu finally starts. At the same time, Tanaka takes the plunge. In a burnt laboratory, he uses the golden horn to locate the germ formula. Despite the heroics, Tanaka’s gang is pursued once again by Martin, Daniel and Simon. Tanaka finally gets the formula but it is shot from his hand again. The ghostly image floods Tanaka’s mind and he is left laughing in an insane heap.
Just so we are clear, I copied the synopsis from Letterboxd because I have absolutely no fucking clue as to what I just watched. There was ninjas, talk about Hocus Pocus, grown men rolling around like it was a fighting tactic. I love bad movies and I love when movies are bad on purpose but this was a difficult one for me to sit through. As I've said in previous reviews, I hate writing a negative review for a movie that was sent to me but I'm always honest. The acting in this one is unintentionally funny. I found myself laughing more than I should have at a lot of the line delivery during the dialogue heavy scenes. The cast was very inexperienced in acting which made a lot of the scenes funny when they shouldn't have been. The story for this one is all over the place and I still have no fucking clue as to what was happening most of the time. The best that I can piece together is that someone was a real piece of shit during WWII and wants to make up for his misdeeds but someone evil is wanting to use something he was affiliated with to cause mass death. I could be wrong but the film is not very coherent or easy to follow. We really need a tighter story and better editing. Finally, don't go into this one expecting a blood bath with a lot of fun effects. We have some ninja costumes and some not so bad fight choreography but that is the extent of it. Overall, Born a Ninja could be a fun one if you are in a room full of like minded people who have been drinking but if you are looking for a campy kung fu flick then this one is not for you. Sadly, I would suggest skipping this one.
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