Revenge of the Ninja

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This article is about the film. For the Sega Mega-CD game, see Ninja Hayate
Revenge of the Ninja

Revenge of the Ninja movie poster
Directed by Sam Firstenberg
Produced by Yoram Globus
Menahem Golan
David Womark
Written by James Silke
Starring Shô Kosugi
Keith Vitali
Kane Kosugi
Virgil Frye
Arthur Roberts
Mario Gallo
Music by W. Michael Lewis
Laurin Rinder
Robert J. Walsh
Cinematography David Gurfinkel
Editing by Michael J, Duthie
Mark Helfrich
Daniel Wetherbee
Distributed by Cannon Films
MGM / United Artists
Release date(s) September 7, 1983
Running time 90 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Revenge of the Ninja (1983) is an action movie starring Shô Kosugi as a ninja. It is considered part of a ninja trilogy, starting with Enter the Ninja (1981) and ending with Ninja III: The Domination (1984), but the stories are not directly related. The final battle is considered a battle between good and evil.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

Revenge of the Ninja opens with a massive ninja attack on the home of Cho Tanaka (Sho Kosugi) in Japan, resulting in the slaughter of his entire family except for his mother and his younger son, Kane (Kane Kosugi). When Cho arrives at his estate and discovers the carnage, the ninjas attempt to kill him as well, but Cho, being a ninja himself, avenges his family. Afterwards, however, he swears off being a ninja forever and moves with his son and mother to California, where he opens a doll gallery with the help of his American business partner and friend, Braden, and his assistant Kathy.

One night, Kane accidentally drops and breaks open a Japanese doll exposing a white dust (heroin). As it turns out, Braden uses the doll gallery as a front for his drug-dealing business. He tries to strike a deal with Caifano, a Mafia drug dealer, but Caifano and Braden cannot find common ground and eventually engage in a turf war. Braden, as a silver "demon" masked ninja, assassinates Caifano's informers and relatives to make him cower down. The police are confused about the killings, and local police martial arts trainer and expert, Dave Hatcher, is assigned to find a consultant. Dave persuades Cho to see his boss, and Cho attests that only a ninja could commit these crimes.

In order to avoid payment for his 'merchandise', Caifano sends three men to clear the gallery. Cho haphazardly walks into the gallery while the thugs are loading the goods in a van, is attacked and responds with hand-to-hand combat. The henchmen escape in the van with Cho in pursuit, but he fails to stop the thieves from getting away. Meanwhile, Braden stealthily arrives to Cho's art gallery to find that it was just looted. Cho's mother and Kane both encounter him; Braden kills Cho's mother, but Kane manages to elude him. Cho, badly mangled, returns to find his mother murdered and his son missing.

In order to finish the last witness, Braden hypnotizes Kathy, who is in love with Cho, to find and bring in Kane. When she recovers her senses, she contacts Cho and informs him both of Braden's evilness and that he is a ninja. Seeing his only remaining son in mortal danger, Cho breaks his devotion to non-violence with a religious Japanese ceremony and makes his way to Caifano's residence to stop Braden. In the meantime, Kane manages to free himself and Kathy, and the two inform the police.

Braden makes his final assault on Caifano and his organization, killing everyone he ecounters. Eager to help his friend Cho, Dave also rushes to Caifano's residence, but is ambushed by Braden, who mortally wounds him. Cho runs up to find his faithful friend dying in his arms.

The film ends with an epic battle to the death between Braden and Cho on top of Caifano's skyscraper. After a long struggle Cho kills Braden and is reunited with his son and Kathy.

[edit] Censorship

The original theatrical release was heavily cut, as was the VHS. Sho Kosugi's son's death (ninja star in the head) was cut, as were the deaths of three guards at the hands of the evil ninja Braden. Braden's gory death was also slightly trimmed. All cuts were reinserted into the Region 1 DVD from MGM.

[edit] Trivia

 Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (March 2009)
  • Though the film is set in California, every car has a Utah license plate.
  • Professor Toru Tanaka, who plays Braden's first sumo servant, never had any doctorate; this was his professional name as a wrestler.
  • Cho's eldest son, who was killed in the opening scene, is played by Shane Kosugi, who is Sho's youngest son, a little role reversal between him and his brother Kane, who usually plays the older brother in his father's movies.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Reviews

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