Commando the Ninja

Director - Chi Lo (Magic Swords, Tiger Angels)

Starring - Man Fei (Born a Ninja), Patrick Largent (Power Kids, Team of Prodigies), and Hung Kuan (One-Armed Boxer, The Deadly Island)

Release Date - 1988

Genre - Action

Tagline - "One man's battle to save the world from an evil bacteriological nightmare"

Format - Blu (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I'm going to be completely honest here.  I went into this second film in the double feature confused. I watched them in the order they were on the cover and in the set but it seems that maybe Commando was the first film while imdb lists both films as releasing in 1988.  Honestly, I have no idea what the order is here but it looks like there is several other films in this series.  Regardless, I still gave this one a chance because of how much I respect and love Visual Vengeance and what they are doing for long forgotten S.O.V. films regardless of their genre.  Like always, I want to thank Visual Vengeance and MVD for sending this one over.

     The film, I believe, is about a ninja trying to find a bioweapon from WWII but Russians are on the hunt for it as well.

     I really did try when I hit play on this.  It's cool that I have this one in my collection and dig that VV is looking outside of horror for releases but these two films are difficult to watch alone...and sober.  It was edited poorly and the story is damn near impossible to follow.  I hate being this negative but it's a rough movie for sure.  The acting in this one is very amateurish.  The cast gets into their roles but inexperience and lack of direction makes the scenes very awkward to watch.  I was hoping the movie would have that unintentional humor that I found in Born a Ninja but I think it had ran it's course by the time I tossed this one in.  The story for this one is so fucking confusing and that is a big part in the way the film was edited.  I read on letterboxd that the movie was pieced together from an unused episode of a television show.  While I don't know how true this is but it answers a lot of my questions if it is.  Finally, we get some solid fights scenes that don't really go anywhere and that is about the extent of it.  Genre fans looking for memorable deaths and gore will be very disappointed.  Overall, Commando the Ninja is a rough one to watch.  I'm still convinced that it would be fun to watch with like minded movie fans while high but it's difficult to finish while sober and alone.  I cannot recommend this one.