Made back in 1981, this is a movie that is truely a product of the times. Right down to starring actor Franco Nero with cheesy pornstache, lame fakey fighting scenes, and cliche story. And boy does it have it's glorious moments.
Cole (Nero), ex-soldier and full-time white ninja, goes to visit his old Vietnam War buddy, Frank (Alex Courtney). But unknown to him, a greedy/evil industrialist named Vanarius (Christopher George) wants Frank's land because there is a fortune of oil to be discovered. After strong arm tactics by Vanarius were defeated by Cole, he hires another ninja, Hasagawa (Sho Kosugi), to kill Cole.
The movie really does follow the 80's action story formula. Irredeemable villians, heroic super human good guys, a smoking hot love interest, and it all leads up to ninja vs ninja action.
Overall the biggest selling point of martial arts movies are the action scenes and even for a movie 30 years old the fight scenes are just terrible. It's clear the only person with any fighting experience was Sho Kosugi. The man who later went on to be in many more 80's martial arts movies. He then took a hiatus from movies and made a short lived comeback in Ninja Assassin.
In fact many of the actors in this movie went on to sub-par careers. The only one who had much success was Franco Nero who had a bit part in Die Hard 2.
I wouldn't necessarily recommend this movie as a "good" movie. Instead I'd say if you're feeling nostalgic for a cheesy 80's martial arts movie and just can't find China O'Brien, then maybe it's worth a watch... If only to see Franco Nero and his glorious moustache.
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