Mirai Ninja: Keiun Kinin Gaiden

I really enjoyed this film. Is there some cheese? Sure, but Keita Amemiya's films are so very entertaining and use every trick in the book to successfully suspend disbelief and add in great effects. Usually these kinda cool effects are just things you wont see in other films. For open minded, Japanese sci fi lovers this is a fun film with use of some minatures and decent lighting. Really love Zeiram, Zeriam 2, and Moon Over Tao as well from the same director. Cyber Ninja is a hard standalone film to source, but comes in a set called The Ninja Collection on dvd with english dub and decent quality- like a very good vhs tape.

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 $#!+.

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.

This movie is nothing amazing for sure. Yet it is very interesting scifi retro futuro B-class movie with a lot of swordplay and somewhat acceptable effects.

The only way how to describe this movie is mix of Star Gate with a lot of Kurosawa and maybe a little bit of Tron and Doom (the computer game, not the movie). Both parties, the cyber demons and the humans fight as they would were teleported from medieval Japan. The story leaves a lot of parts unexplained and it is open for the imagination of the viewer as it it typical for "genuine, non-Westernized" Japanese movies. This is not bad in general but it will probably leave a lot of Western viewers confused.

The movie is definitely not something special. It is probably not worthy to seek on DVD either. But it is enjoyable and well done in terms of its probably tight budget so it is not insult of the viewer nor a loss of time. It allows us to see "retro cyber punk" as it is perceived by the Japanese authors. It is comparable to "Mutant Chronicles" which is not miracle either but it is solid fun anyway. I think the more hardcore scifi fans will like it.

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.