Revenge of the Ninja

A marginal improvement over its predecessor, Revenge of the Ninja follows Sho Kosugi’s Cho Osaki as he attempts to protect his young son (Kane Kosugi’s Kane) from a cabal of ruthless gangsters. Director Sam Firstenberg delivers an exceedingly hit-and-miss actioner that remains unable, generally speaking, to become the enthralling work he’s obviously intended, as the movie, written by James Silke, suffers from a lackadaisical atmosphere that prevents the viewer from working up much interest in or sympathy for the protagonist’s increasingly perilous exploits – although, to be fair, Firstenberg has admittedly punctuated the picture with a handful of exciting, compelling action sequences. (The best and most potent example of this is a mid-movie fight/car chase that possesses an energy and electricity that’s otherwise absent from the proceedings.) Revenge of the Ninja‘s less-than-spellbinding vibe is exacerbated by its almost total absence of dynamic, memorable performances, with Sho Kosugi’s fairly wooden turn as the one-dimensional hero merely the tip of the iceberg in terms of the cast’s across-the-board far-from-impressive work here. By the time the protracted (and somewhat endless) final battle rolls around, Revenge of the Ninja has confirmed its place as a disappointingly forgettable bit of 1980s action filmmaking.

** out of ****