Now here is an unusual film.....
Where to begin?.....Well intrinsically what we have here is a tale of high school student angst and gang related tribulations....well....sort of anyway.
What we actually have is some hilariously poor directing, actors who have no idea of the concept of timing their lines correctly or of any remote cognisance of acting ability in general for that matter and a tacked on 'plot' that doesn't really kick in until almost an hour into the films running time!
Basically the story involves Young, a pupil at high school (and an hilariously inappropriate name as the actor playing him is at least in his forties!!!) who befriends Tony and introduces him into his gang (although note that this is in fact a 'good guy' gang as opposed to the various stereotypical 'bad guy' gangs prevalent throughout the movie) In honourable capitalist style, the gang in question actually earns honest cash by taking on various security assignments.
On one such assignment however, Young decides to indulge in a bit of theft and high tales it with some drugs money, thus prompting the dealer to send a Ninja and another sadistic character played by legendary kickboxing champion Bill 'Superfoot' Wallace after him.....Okaaayy......
Actually as previously said, this actual story doesn't occur until almost an hour into the proceedings. Up until this point we are subjected to lots of impromptu gang fights and some hilariously woeful attempts at serious interpersonal drama designed to make us sympathise with the various protagonists' plights. For example, in one such supposedly touching scene we witness one of the 'good guy' gang members crying when he is presented with a birthday cake, the emotional gratitude just too much to bear....ahhhhh..... Far from wringing any empathy from me however, I found that such scenes curiously only induced uncontrollable laughter, certainly not what the makers would have wanted, for the film tries so hard to be taken seriously that it's just painful to behold.
Still credit where credit's due, at least the makers of this tried to do something different from the usual martial arts revenge plot (the staple of about 99.9% of ALL martial arts films!)
The ending is especially noteworthy in this movie in fact, and is surprisingly downbeat (and gory to boot!)
Another accolade must be awarded to the martial arts choreography on display throughout, which is admittedly top notch.
Overall then, whilst the disorganised and oddly structured nature of the film would ostensibly donate that the director was absent for most of the filming, this is actually against all odds, a rather entertaining movie with a particularly intriguing final half hour. Well worth a watch if you can track down a copy (note: The movie also goes under the alternative title of 'Ninja Turf')
