Night Master

Have you ever had one of those dreams where you seem to know everybody around and all the places you were at, but somehow it didn't match up? For instance, you're at the Raiders game with your grandmother and a drug dealer and you're singing Christmas carols. Doesn't quite go together very well.

That is what this movie is like. I couldn't tell if the characters were at their school, martial arts gymnastics dojo or some big boiler room or if they were all the same place. At one point I got the distinct feeling that I was in the Cobra Kai dojo from the Karate Kid.

The lack of any plot, it seems, makes this movie totally uninteresting in even the slightest manner.

I do realize that this review doesn't make much sense, but that is because this movie makes no sense either. It's just hard to explain.

I did, however, watch a young Nicole Kidman pretty closely. She looked so different and yet, still just as recognizable. She definitely has "It", even at such a young age. She is the only thing that kept this movie from being unwatchable.

Even despite Kidman, I give this movie 3 stars out of 10. Not recommended at all.

This one makes more sense than most Ninja movies, but that's not saying much is it? A fun one if you like the bad movies.

Actually, the Australian Teenage Movie has become one of my favorite bad movie genres. OK, we got kids involved in dangerous secret stuff at night, but also involved with "good" activities at school. Of course there's a caring female teacher who reaches out to help a troubled young man (and the ensuing titillation). And we must also have the bad mentor, showing the kids the wrong way.

Best of all, Nicole Kidman running around in a dark factory in a Ninja suit! Also hysterical is the way they keep referring to the frumpy schoolteacher as a real looker! Wait till she shows up on her motorcycle. Also featuring painful 80's rock at local club, and sudden dream sequences.

The pacing of this movie is pretty good, and with a little more care, could have been a better film. Nonetheless very entertaining. If you like this, you'll gotta see the Aussie teen flick, Street Hero.

Really a shame, poor direction ruined what could have been a far better film. Solid, believable performances from a very young Nicole Kidman and a fine martial-arts actor, Tom Jennings, just aren't enough to save this. The screenplay didn't quite realize the basic concept of a bunch of older kids staying up all night to play Ninja war games in an abandoned power plant, much to the neglect of their school work. It was, to say the least, a bit muddled. There were some good futuristic elements thrown in, but not convincingly enough to play true. As to what year of school these "kids" were in, it's hard to guess. They're clearly too mature for an American high school, but then again, it's an Australian movie, set in the future.

With better editing, this movie could have been a bit more watchable, but I suspect there just wasn't enough footage shot that the editor had much choice. Some sequences were reused in pointless mini-flashbacks that really didn't belong in the film. This makes me wonder if it wasn't being padded to play on television. And the director just didn't seem to be able to tell a story. He did frame the occasional dramatic picture, but not often enough to achieve the artsy effect I think he was going for. Besides, without being able to accomplish the basics, you should be careful with the frills.

However, it's a treat to see the young Kidman. Despite the bad direction, muddled script, all the martial arts sequences executed in the dark, and her thick Australian accent, you can see what everyone saw in her, even then. Tom Jennings wasn't bad either, seemed to show a lot of potential, but I wonder what happened to him. According to IMDB, he made one more movie in '88 and then dropped out of sight.

I wouldn't recommend you go out of your way to see this one, but it lapsed into the public domain and is available very cheaply from a number of sources. I can only think of two reasons to see this: 1) You're a die-hard Kidman fan who would watch ANYTHING if she was in it, or 2) You're lazy and dishonest and looking for an obscure script to recycle for a student film project.

technically - (sound / camera / scenery / lights) this is not the greatest effort ever but the film has so much going for it! In the not too distant future youngsters play ninja/paintball games in an abandoned power station by night, and during the day they attend their studies which include martial arts lessons with a former member of the military You can watch the film just on those terms and go no deeper;

* or you can look at the theme of the "passing of the flame" from the martial arts teacher to his students; karate starts and ends with courtesy, it is not for killing someone in a fit of temper);

* or you can watch the film for some wonderful martial arts fight sequences. (arguably the VERY BEST KENDO sequence I have EVER seen in any film)

* or watch the film as a historical effort from early in Nicole Kidman's career.

The casting of Vince Martin is nothing short of a stroke of cinematographic genius This movie gets a definite thumbs up!!

I just bought a DVD player, and this was one of the free movies thoughtfully supplied with it. Even at that price, I was overcharged. The plot (such as it was) was muddled, character development was nonexistent and the martial arts sequences were poor to say the least. I've given this 2 on the strength of Nicole Kidman alone, who at one point actually did some acting, and for the one interesting scene where the Older Woman turns up on a motorbike to save Our Hero. One for the "why was this ever made?" bin, for me.