Bearing in mind that I saw this movie many years ago - I remember it being a pretty good movie. I have checked back a number of times to see if it was released on DVD. I'd love to see it again. Based on this fact alone, I give the movie a high rating. There aren't many movies that I remember like this one from my youth.
The movie is about an art dealer, who the authorities suspect is a ninja. They want him to assist them in resolving a situation whereby a terrorist group has taken hostage some people on the top floor of a tall building. It's not a big fighting movie (not fight sequence after fight sequence) but I thought the story and character development was well done. During the long, arduous process of undertaking the rescue attempt, the main character has lots of time to flashback to his upbringing.
I think the movie was a bit before its time - i.e. the Ninja craze was just starting or hadn't really started when this movie came out. Having watched many movies along these lines (such as Enter the Ninja, Revenge of the Ninja, American Ninja, and many, many more), I have often thought that The Last Ninja was a better movie.
I didn't realize that this was supposed to be a TV show pilot as another reviewer mentions. It's unfortunate that it didn't make it. It certainly would have made a better show than the one that did make it, "The Master".
