Ninja III: The Domination

Cannon Films’ Ninja trilogy comes to a close with this predictably forgettable entry, in which Lucinda Dickey’s Christie Ryder is possessed by the spirit of an evil ninja and forced to embark on a campaign of revenge – with franchise regular Sho Kosugi eventually appearing as a one-eyed ninja determined to free Christie from her malevolent occupier. Filmmaker Sam Firstenberg, working from James R. Silke, does an effective job of initially luring the viewer into the progressively hit-and-miss proceedings, as Ninja III: The Domination kicks off with an entertainingly absurd sequence detailing said evil ninja’s golf-course-set reign of terror and eventual execution at the hands of the police – with the picture, beyond that point, moving into a mostly tedious midsection that contains few elements worth getting excited about. It doesn’t help, certainly, that much of the emphasis is placed on Christie’s less-than-enthralling exploits, including a relationship subplot that couldn’t possibly be less interesting and convincing, and it’s worth noting, too, that the film is rarely, if ever, as fun as the gleefully over-the-top premise might’ve indicated. By the time the hopelessly anticlimactic final fight rolls around, Ninja III: The Domination has certainly cemented its place as a perfectly mediocre capper to a consistently underwhelming series – which is a shame, undoubtedly, given that each of the pictures contains a handful of admittedly compelling sequences and fight scenes.

** out of ****