Mirai Ninja: Keiun Kinin Gaiden

Wow. MST3K fans check this film out out, especially the English dubbed version. It's absolutely hilarious- so bad it's good. The story is ridiculous, the hero is stupid, and the villains are like something from Power Rangers. One of the villains looks like he has a bunch of snow crabs glued to his back. I especially love the horrible dubbing. For example, the opening fight sequence involves a man (our hero, I believe) rolling down a hill. Instead of the oof's and oww's that one might imagine a man rolling down hill would make, he screams like he's been chucked over a 300 ft. cliff. God, I couldn't stop laughing. A funny movie that's not supposed to be.

i first watched this in the late 80s when it first hit video in the UK.i only saw it once but i never forgot it-no matter how i tried i couldn't find a copy but then after learning its original title i managed to locate a us release on video.its still as good i just wish it would be released on DVD and even in its original Japanese audio. i thought about this film every few months for nearly 20 years until i found a copy on amazon which cost me a lot more then i would normally pay for a video. I've since shown the film to several mates and they all think the same,a brilliant samurai sci fi film which yes does borrow from tons of films but it still works and needs to be seen by more people.

Cyber Ninja is about a cyber ninja and some dip$#!+ who must rescue a warrior broad with a tight little booty from some cybernetic wizard. The movie combines cyberpunk with 16th century samurai genre. Whoopie do-do. The film is creative with some nice 80s style special effects and the costumes look cool. The action is very well choreographed with a sort of kung fu action feel to it. The story is absurd but straightforward and pacing was tedious. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. God I hate it when my reviews get this typical and boring and gay and $#!+.

Ahh, "Cyber Ninja," where to begin with you?

I got to see this movie at a gaming convention during a weekend-long program wherein a group of people in lab coats showed B-movies to test subjects and then monitored them, keeping track of who said the most funny comments during the movies. Sound familiar? If you're a fan of MST3K, it should. And if you can track down a copy of this movie, you'll probably be able to come up with as many riffs as I did.

I realize I haven't said anything about the movie yet, but that's just as well. The more you discover for yourself as you watch, the more brazen and outlandish the whole thing becomes. Suffice to say, it's a Japanese rip-off of "Star Wars" with "Power Rangers"-type villains and some of the silliest-looking ninja I've ever seen in my life. (Once you see how the mecha-ninja get around, you'll know what I'm talking about.)

Calling this movie "reminiscent of 'Star Wars'" -- as somebody did in the blurb on the front of the box -- is amusing since it's set in a quasi-futuristic feudal Japan (with laser guns and sword battles existing side-by-side), and "Star Wars" itself is "reminiscent" of Akira Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress" (i.e. Lucas stole characters and plot points wholesale from it). Does that make this a second generation rip-off? Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I think it does.

I liked this. Granted, the Godzilla-like sfx are laughable at times...but I kind of like that part about it too. Regardless of what a previous review has said, this IS a little like Star Wars. The original three movies especially. However it is also like Godzilla, Krull, Tron,Dune and any number of science fiction movies made in the eighties. you have your laser blasts, your enemies wearing strange costumes, your princess that needs saving etc. What's cool about this movie is that it's from Japan and so its ALSO like anime and you have all these shinto symbols and what not. The first scene of the movie looks an awful lot like the movie Ran, (the samurai version of King Lear)and if you take away the scifi elements its stylistically extremely similar. In fact, one of the actors worked in both movies!

Anyway, maybe this movie isn't for everybody, but if you like Godzilla movies, or eighties scifi, or if you've ever enjoyed an episode of mystery science theater 3000, you'll probably like this movie.