Dorathen
Better Late Then Never
DipitySkillful
an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.
InformationRap
This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
Leofwine_draca
MASK OF THE NINJA is a modern attempt to breathe life into the ninja genre, which has been dormant since the mid-to-late '80s. That it is only moderately successful is really down to the production company behind it, the same guys who also made KUNG FU KILLER and STREET WARRIOR. A low budget and TV movie atmosphere don't add much to the fun of the thing, but it is quite an entertaining little movie, even in a bad way. The ninjas themselves are probably the worst aspect of the production. Instead of lean, stealthy, Japanese warriors, these are heavy Americans who wander down the street without attracting attention. They look like guys with balaclavas wearing boiler suits instead of the age-old assassins they're supposed to represent.Still, they don't skimp on the throwing stars and killing methods, which means this is a film with plenty of cheesy action. There are a handful of standout moments and the action-packed ending is fairly decent, with lots of sword impalement. I loved the shot where the ninjas burst through a glass wall right behind Van Dien and stick a star in his arm. There are also a couple of other stand-out moments, including a grisly massacre in a police station that recalls THE TERMINATOR, except that it's even more violent. The director seems to go out of his way to show the innocent being slain in gruesome ways (throat slashing, etc.) but one beef I have is that you never see the ninjas die gorily, and that's the fun of genre classics like MAFIA VS. NINJA.Speaking of gore, this is a pretty gruesome little film, and there's one memorable torture scene that seems to come straight out of HOSTEL: PART II as one poor sod is strung up, bloodied with knives and then castrated by a sadistic Asian girl. It doesn't have much to do with the rest of the film, it's just thrown in to shock the viewer. The cast are pretty decent for a TV movie, with Kristy Wu proving an attractive damsel-in-distress and Casper Van Dien a square-jawed action hero who regularly comes near to death in his battles with the deadly elite (no Seagal shrugging away of bullets here). Sadly, the frenzied fight editing tries to emulate Bourne and comes off severely the worst for it, sometimes leaving the viewers scratching their heads and wondering what the heck is going on.
Nick Selwood
I saw this on TV last night unfortunately, well I say watched - I wasn't really paying much attention.Its too bad to be a good film and too good to be a bad film - its just boring to be honest.No good laughs in it like the old ninja films because its too polished. But you cant take it seriously because its so stupid! So this film doesn't know its target audience lol.If you want a funny ninja film go back to the 80s....9 Deaths of the Ninja, Ninja Terminator, Ninja Squad, American Ninja etc etc - they are all far better (and funnier) than this.
captainpervert
Just when you thought the cheesy "touch me and I die" ninjas were something from your childhood, you come across this flick. When I was 10, I watched the American Ninja movies over and over again, even constructed my own ninja weapons in my dad's shed. Being 27 now, I somehow could't resist watching it. And an instant flashback it was. The wooden acting, the predictable plot, all there, and more. The editing is a bit more flashy and incorporates many closeups, but other than that, it's all the same. Perhaps a little more blood.It's not all that bad, though, I'd day it's better than the average Seagal movie, but that's not saying much.Bottom line: just as bad as the other ninjamovies, but ideal stuff for todays 10-year olds.
Wizard-8
I have been starved of ninja movies for a long time, so when this movie was broadcast I decided to give it a chance, despite the fact it starred Casper Van Dien and that it was made for television. However, I thought the movie pretty much failed for several reasons: (1) The movie often has an ugly visual look to it. Whoever did the lighting and cinematography should have been fired (2) It looks cheap. The production values look more like those from a low-budget action television show from the '80s or '90s.(3) The fight scenes are horrible. Not only are they badly choreographed, but they have been directed with "flashy" techniques like extreme close-ups and jerky camera movements that make the fights next to impossible to make out.(4) The boredom factor. The lead was dull, though considering it was Van Dien that should not have been a surprise. But his part was written dull as well. And the whole plot about what the bad guys were looking for (and why) took so long to be revealed that I almost fell asleep.(5) Incomprehensible stuff. There's one fight scene where the bad guy ninjas hear sirens from approaching cops. Cut to the next scene, and they are far away safe. How the heck did they escape? (6) Stupid stuff.A bulletproof vest may save your life, but a bullet fired into one will STILL HURT A LOT - and these ninjas get shot in the vest several times in one scene! I advise you to wait for the Isaac Florentine movie NINJA instead. I haven't seen it, but Florentine has proved to be good with action, and the production company has a reputation for slick low-budget films. Until then, re-rent American NINJA 2 and REVENGE OF THE NINJA instead of seeing this made-for-TV travesty.
