I love ninjas. They’re so damn cool, dressed all in black and jumping out of nowhere and making their kill with one of their various martial arts weapons.
Well guess what this movie has in it? Yeah, Ninjas. I’m not exactly mysterious in my introduction to this movie, after all the title has the word ‘Ninja’ in it.
So we’ve got Guy #1.
Ninja in the Dragon’s Den is an early 80’s ninja film about a young Ninja warrior named Jin Wu ( played by Hiroyuki Sanada) is out for revenge. He’s left Japan and traveled to China to find the man who killed his father and destroy him. All of this is happening while his old Japanese Clan follow and try to kill him.
…and of course Guy#2
On the flip side, we’ve got a Chinese guy by the name of Jay (Conan Lee) whose young and an extremely skilled fighter. Very protective, Jay vows that he will always protect his surrogate father, Foo – a master in the martial arts.
So Guy #1 is trying to kill Foo, and naturally Guy #2 is very protective, leading to many cool fights between both sides.
I won’t give away too much of the the plot (go to the next paragraph otherwise!), but ultimately it seems that Jay is labelled the good guy and Jin Wu is the villain. But we learn the truth about these characters later on and see a cool Japanese & Chinese friendship forming as both of these men work together to fight a common foe.
Until this happens though, we see Jay having a good time thwarting the attempts on his Uncle’s life and also having fun picking on his servant Chee. It’s pretty funny to watch.
The movie is, on the surface, a very Guy #1 vs Guy#2 affair that eventually spreads as more villains show up and we learn that things aren’t as simple as the original starting plot has us think.
The performance of both actors was very well done, but I really enjoyed the persona and charisma of Conan Lee as Jay. He’s a total smart ass and really makes this movie entertaining and light hearted.
But I really appreciated the action more than anything!
Being an 80’s movie I expected a particular type of action from this film. What I got was just a bit different but still had an awesome pace and variety within each fight.
With the many weapons and tactics of the Ninja, we are shown different aspects of fighting within each scene and the ability of the performers is as top notch as the industries best. The jumps and flips are delivered a strong pace as they move, showing a high level of acrobatic prowess. It’s very nice to watch!
This movie also has plenty of this quality martial arts choreography and performance to keep it from getting too boring. It seems like every few minutes a fight is popping up or an assassination attempt on Foo seems to be defended by Jay.
Overall, it’s a fun movie with great action and is without a doubt an absolute classic. if you get the opportunity check out this film. It rocks!
On DVD –
Region 1 (US & Canada)
Ninja in the Dragon’s Den
Region 2 (UK, Europe, etc)
The Ninja In The Dragon’s Den [DVD]
