Operação Ninja III

Ah - yet another of those wonderfully zany cut and splice, highly colourful ninja outings as produced by and in this case, also directed by our good old friend Joseph Lai.

Step forward genre stalwart Richard Harrison as ninja master Gordon battling the evil ninja empire yet again!

Whilst I admit to having a real soft spot for these movies, they do admittedly tend to be somewhat hit and miss affairs in terms of their overall entertainment quality.

The intrinsic criteria for the enjoyment level derived from each of these ninja outings is comprised of a number of factors i.e. the ridiculous plots (and hopelessly tenuous e.g non existent links between the ninja footage and the original film into which the footage is edited), atrocious dubbing, hilariously inappropriate voice over work, tremendously acrobatic (but always sadly far too brief) ninja combat sequences and the presence of a number of always welcome faces such as the aforementioned Harrison as well as the likes of Bruce Baron and Stuart Smith (both sadly absent from the film in question)

However, it has to be said that whilst the aforementioned formula in the majority of cases produces some hugely fun efforts (such as Ninja Champion and Ninja Operation: Knight And Warrior aka Ninja Silent Assassins) any imbalance in the said formula can also conversely spawn some rather mind numbing affairs with very little to recommend them.

In a nutshell, some of these cut and splice movies just seem to 'work' (admittedly more by luck as opposed to any directorial skill or judgement) and make for a wonderful hour and a half of great(unintentionally hilarious) entertainment whilst others end up feeling sadly flat and woefully missing the mark.

And so we come to the film in question which, whilst certainly far from the worst of it's ilk, and despite meeting most of the criteria in the aforementioned formula, doesn't quite manage to pull it off.

Yes, a number of the fight scenes are very impressive, the dialogue did make me chuckle on a few occasions and the ninja themselves perform suitably goofy antics dressed in the usual brightly coloured togs but......it still tends to drag rather lamely throughout.

The fact that the film into which the ninja material has been edited is marginally less interesting that watching skin form on a rice pudding certainly doesn't help matters either.

Still, to be honest I'd much rather sit through even a lesser Joseph Lai ninja movie than most of the dross that Hollywood churns out these days.....come back Richard Harrison, we need you!

First of all, let me premise this comment by saying that if you have not seen a Godfrey Ho directed film then you must go out and view one. You will probably have a hard time finding one seeing as all blockbuster's don't carry them and the majority of his films are not on DVD.

So, go find one of those independently owned video stores, if they still exist in your town or city, and head to the VHS action/martial arts section and begin panning the isles for awkwardly titled ninja films like: Ninja Destroyer, Ninja Hunt, Ninja Powerforce etc...

Trust me, you will not be disappointed! His wonderful two film splicing technique, a lost art in my opinion, and his use of zooming in on running feet to display action and movement in his films is unmatched! His champion directorial style is only equaled by his costume choices for his ninja combatents (i.e. pink, large shoulder pads and powder blue ninja costumes) are simply amazing! 10 out of 10 His works are masterpieces i suggest you see them!