Enter the Ninja (1981) Reviews

• The Daddy of the Golan-Globus Ninja series

  cheeks2k2003-01-20

  Anyone like myself who is a great fan of poorly-acted Ninja movies - especially the ones produced by Golan & Globus - will enjoy this, the Daddy of the series. The acting is wooden, the humour flat, the jeans tight; the fight scenes make no sense whatsoever and everyone dies dramatically. But that's the point; if you can't pass an evening laughing wildly at this, there must be something wrong with you. And any film which ends with a freeze-frame of the main character winking at the camera justifies its price fully.

• The most underrated, and little known gem of the 80's Ninja movies

  edgott2005-04-26

  This one is not easy to get a hold of, but if you can and appreciate Ninja flicks, I highly recommend it. It may seem a little cheesy to today's younger generation, but in the hype of the 80's Ninja movies - this one has got it all. Great fight scenes and the most Ninja weaponry skills that I've ever seen displayed on film to this day. Sho Kosugi was great as the bad guy, Hasegawa,(along with playing many of the masked bad guys chasing the lead through his final Ninja test in the opening of the film)and actor Franco Nero's (Cole) efforts were pretty convincing as the newly graduated American Ninja (with a lot of help from Martial Arts great and writer Mike Stone behind the white mask). The opening of the film with Kosugi doing fantastic Katas with weapons to the Ninja test was too cool. All scenes were beautifully shot and the chase/battle between rivals Hasegawa and Cole through the test was awesome. The landscape,weapons,and uniforms of the Ninjas in this film had the appearance of authenticity. Along with many neat fights in between, the final battle is still one of my personal favorites, as jealous Hasegawa is hired out (with evil pleasure),by badger tycoon Mr.Venarius, to assassinate his rival. A must see!!!!!

• A Must See for Ninja Fans

  AlmightyBanyan2005-09-08

  As far as Ninja movies go, this is THE Ninja movie. All of the classic elements are here: smoke bombs, climbing claws, shurikens, villainy... you name it, it's in there. The movie opens with an excellent trial, where Cole must defeat legions of opposing ninjas (fellow students), then make it back to base and calmly recite the Nine Levels of Power in front of Master Komori. To this day I have a .wav file of the Nine Levels of Power... it is a cool scene. MINOR SPOILER FOLLOWS The bulk of the movie is setting up the rivalry between Hasegawa and Cole. Hasegawa, being the evil, black-clad Ninja that he is, causes as much mayhem as possible culminating in the killing of Cole's buddy Frank. Cole, being the good white-clad Ninja, must now (of course) avenge his buddy's death and face Hasegawa one-on-one. I won't tell you the outcome of the final battle, but I will say that it is a classic Ninja battle. You won't be disappointed. Sure it is a silly movie, but you aren't watching it for its screenplay, are you? You may never want to see it more than once, but Enter the Ninja is definitely worth seeing. "Surrender or Die!"

• fantastic crap

  waldosanmiguel2005-03-07

  I still remember watching this movie with my friends in the 6th grade and walking out of the theater like we had just seen the greatest martial arts movie ever. I was one of the first kids on my street to have a videocassette recorder and i would rent this movie every week for at least a year. We would look at the film like investigators probably looked at the Zapruder film.I don't like to trtash it because every time i see something associated with this movie i remember my childhood and a feel very nostalgic about those memories. It is my first writing here so excuse my English if there are errors or there is a lack of sense to what I'm trying to say.

• Sho Kosugi, need to say more??

  pzivojinovic2016-08-06

  The film begins with a very impressive display of weaponry skills by none other than Sho Kosugi in full Ninja uniform, including sai, shinobi-gatana, tonfa, nunchaku, manriki {bola}, blowgun, shiroken, bow & arrow, and spear-staff. Blend into white ninja {color indicative of novice/apprentice} amidst the wilderness undergoing his final "law of the jungle" test until recognized as full Ninja calibre; he is attacked by several red ninjas on his way back to the dojo, expertly defending himself until facing the Shidoshi himself, shockingly beheading him before entering in for judgment. "Enter The Ninja" was released during the latter part of the martial arts pop-fascination of the 70's and early 80's, and distinguished itself by presenting Ninpo principles such as the afore-mentioned Kuji-Kiri, indigenous weaponry and some techniques, all under the expert supervision of Sho Kosugi, an actual Ninpo practitioner, who along with Frank Dux, earned some ire from traditionalists in the old country, but did manage to add an enhanced perspective on this enigmatic historical character known as Ninja. Although, the film is long in the tooth and features way too much plot, but the film does deliver a decent amount of butt-kicking and several cheesy moments that will get giggles of joy from bad movie fans. The last half is far more interesting than the first; the action scenes are competently done, though it's obvious Golan was not the action director Firstenberg was. Overall rating: 7 out of 10.