Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Movie Review: Ninja Dragon

Ninja Dragon
IFD Films and Arts Limited, Hong Kong, 1986. 
Ninja Dragon title
International crime lords play poker with banker and ninja master Gordon (Richard Harrison). Bank always wins so Gordon wins lots of properties. The crime lords want revenge. Tiger Kwok (Shut Chung-Tin) plans the assassination of Gordon's business partner Ronald. 
International crime lords
Richard Harrison
Ninja master Gordon
Shut Chung-Tin
Tger Kwok
Tiger Kwok goes to Shanghai Triad Godfather's wake (so Ronald was the Godfather). He vows revenge (although he arranged the murder). Godfather has two daughters Phoenix (Lily Lan Yu-Li) and Fanny (?) who will take over the Godfather's businesses. Gordon asks Dragon (Chang Kuo-Chu) to help the daughters restore their power. Paul (Paulo Tocha) and Fox (Miao Tian) are trying to gain advantage so Dragon must stop them. 
Chang Kuo-Chu
Dragon
Paulo Tocha
Paul (Paulo Tocha)
Lily Lan Yu-Li
Phoenix and Fanny
Dragon arrives just in time when goons of Fox are trying to kill the sisters. Then Dragon goes to Godfather's funeral. Also Fox goes to the funeral to bring flowers. Tiger plans to kill Dragon and take over the leadership of the gang (however no one does not notice anything fishy even when Tiger shows his unreliability several times). 
Miao Tian
Fox Chan
Richard Harrison
Ninja Camo!
Triad warfare
Then we see ninja (Richard Harrison) training in camouflage suit (the evil ninjas wear red). Little pickpocket kid steals Dragon's keys and foils assassination attempt. The captured killer then bashes his own face so he can't be recocgnized. Gordon starts his own war against Paul and his gang. Fox wants to take over Phoenix's turf. After Dragon foils another attempt to assasinate Phoenix, the mobsters kill Dragon's girlfriend. Dragon does not notice anything. Lots of scheming, murders and ninja battles ensue.
Richard Harrison
Sword training
Godfrey Ho films are made by cutting scenes from different movies and inserting some new footage. This film is an uneasy mash-up of unknown Taiwanese triad gangster epic "Dark Trap" and ninja film. Also the music is "loaned" from other films, at least music from "Dune" was used here. The IFD Film opening logo uses music from "Star Wars". 
Ninja workout
The plot is confusing mess. It is hard to figure out who is on whose side. The dubbing is hilariously awful. Mob boss Paul's (Paulo Tocha a.k.a Bruce Stallion) fake cockney accent cracked me up every time he appeared on screen. The action ranges from Hong Kong gunplay to ninja action where ninja suits and weapons appear magically from thin air. Although the repetitiveness and brutality of the original "Dark Trap" take away some of the wackiness, it is narrowly so bad it is good. 

Rating: So bad it is good 

Starring: Richard Harrison, Paulo Tocha, Chiang Tao, Pierre Tremblay, Suen Kwok-Ming, Chang Kuo-Chu, Shut Chung-Tin, Lily Lan Yu-Li, Lau Yin-Fong, Wang Hsieh, Miao Tian, Cheung Chung-Kwai, Chen Yan-Yan, Melvin Pitcher, Cheung Yiu-Sing, Man Man, Cheung Bo-Sin, Lo Dik, Liu Wai, Chiang Chi-Ping, Lam Gwong-Chun, Yung Shun-Hing, Choi Chung-Chau, Freya Patrick, Martin Lee, Konrad Chang, Jean Tang, Mason Shin, Billy Pang 
Director: Godfrey Ho

4 comments:

  1. Asiasta toiseen. Tulipa tässä mieleeni se kun eräässä aiemmassa postauksessani tulin maininneeksi ostaneeni vahingossa Stallone The Specialistin tuplana ja sinä mietit josko sinulla sitä on. Silloin se unohtui, mutta jos sinulla ei sitä ole, niin saat halutessasi sen ylimääräisen kappaleeni. Pistä vaikka sähköpostia jos kiinnostaa.

    negaatio@netti.fi

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    Replies
    1. Kiitoksia tarjouksesta! Tosin tuo Specialisti löytyi jo varastoistani, se oli mukana Stallone-boksissa jossa oli myös tuo Assassins sekä Demolition Man. Yritän itsekin siivota tuplakappaleita pois syksyn mittaan, jossain vaiheessa laitan postausta aiheesta.

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    2. Niitä kertyy väkisinkin. Joskus puhtaasti omasta huolimattomuudesta, joskun muka paremman version löytyessä ja aika usein siksi, että ostaa jonkin boksin, tms. jossa on mukana jotain jo hyllystä löytyvää. Mutta kun sen hankkii siksi, ettei sitä toista tai muita vielä ollut. Tuolla minulla on yksi kirjahyllyn kaapeista varattu kaikille tuplakappaleille (ei vain elokuvat) ja niitä sitten liikutetaan eteenpäin kun löytyy joku oikea henkilö jolle jonkin voi lahjoittaa.

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    3. Kirjojakin löytyy pari laatikkoa tuplakappaleina, pahimmillaan olen omistanut esim. Alivaltiosihteerin kirjoja kolmena kappaleena. Usein juuri elokuva/kirjasarjoja etsiessä tulee haksahduksia. Tai jos jokin teos on julkaistu eri kansilla. Ja joskus myös törmää niin halpaan hintaan ettei voi olla ostamatta, ja sitten kotona alkaa takaraivossa naputtaa että eikös mulla ollut tämä jossain.

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