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Released by: Adness
Released on: 2/8/2005
Director: Mitsumasa Saito
Cast: Sonny Chiba, Hiroyuki Sanada, Mikio Narita, Jun Miho, Noriko Watanabe
Year: 1982
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The Movie:
Ninja Wars (or, in Japan, Igo Ninpocho - the title of the book upon which the film is based) is pretty nutty stuff. The story begins when a feudal lord named Matsunaga (Akiro Nakao who periodically shows up in Godzilla films from time to time) becomes obsessed with the slinky, sexy Lady Ukyo (played by pop singer Noriko Watanabe who handles two roles in this film, her first) who also happens to be the daughter of the reigning Shogun.
Matsunage thinks that hooking up with her would be fine - not only she a hottie but marrying her would pretty much solidify his spot as the next Shogun. Unfortunately for him, she's already into someone else - Lord Miyoshi (Noboru Matsuhashi of Samurai Reincarnation). So Matsunaga does what any love struck warrior spirit would do, he goes to visit a wizard named Kashin (Mikio Narita of Legend Of The Eight Samurai) who agrees to hook him up with a love potion that is sure to win the lady's heart once and for all.
There are a few minor complications to overcome, however. First, Kashin will need some tears from Ukyo's twin sister, Kagaribi (also played by Noriko Watanabe). No problem, he sends out a few thugs to take care of that and voila, she's kidnapped. Unfortunately for Kashin, Kagaribi's boyfriend, Jotaro (Hiroyuki 'Henry' Sanada), has noticed that she's missing and soon heads off to track her down. Sadly, Jotaro soon discovers that she's dead so he's forced to avenge her death - so that's what he sets out to do.
Mitsumasa Saito, who helmed G. I. Samurai a few years earlier, proves he's still quite adept at directing epic action films. He's also not afraid to crank up the exploitative elements in his films either, as evidenced by the film's notorious vomiting ninja warrior. Throw in all manner of oddball fight scenes, many of which involve a wide variety of weapons and tricks, a gratuitous Sonny Chiba appearance (it's a bit part but it's quite honestly the highlight of the film) and you've got yourself a winner even if it is about as goofy as they come.
Chiba protégé Hiroyuki Sanada is the main star of the film and he shows that he's got what it takes. Chiba fans will recognize him from many of their collaborations together such as The Executioner and The Yagyu Conspiracy and even those not familiar with his 70s film should still recognize the man from the Oscar nominated The Twilight Samurai and more recently the Tom Cruise film, The Last Samurai. Being a member of Chiba's Japan Action Club, it shouldn't surprise anyone to see Mr. Sanada upon more than one can of whupass in the film - the man's got fighting skills in spades and the film gives him ample opportunity to show off the goods.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The 2.00.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is really quite nice aside for one noticeable problem, and that is that Adness hasn't flagged the video for progressive scan playback which means that you might notice some image blurring depending on what kind of hardware you're using to watch the movie. Aside from that, the colors are nice and bright and natural looking and print damage is kept to a minimum. This film doesn't look quite as good as the earlier entries in the Sonny Chiba Collection but it is still a sold effort.
The Dolby Digital Mono Japanese language sound mix sounded just fine to my ears. Dialogue was up enough in the mix that it was never overdone by the sound effects (of which there are many) or the background music. The subtitles were clean and easy to read and do a nice job of explaining the dialogue as it occurs aside from a typographical error or two.
Once again, Adness has tagged Patrick Macias to provide some solid reading material in the form of his liner notes. He does a good job of putting the movie into perspective and explaining some of the more interesting historical tidbits behind it.
Adness has also included trailers for other releases in their Sonny Chiba Collection and promo spots can be found for not only Karate Bullfighter, but for Killing Machine, Karate Bearfighter, Karate For Life, G. I. Samurai, Shogun's Samurai (a. k. a. The Yagyu Conspiracy, Black Magic Wars, The Legend of The Eight Samurai, and Resurrection of Golden Wolf as well. It's a nice selection of trailers, and save for G. I. Samurai, they're all presented in widescreen.
The Final Word:
While Ninja Wars isn't the best entry in Adness' Sonny Chiba Collection, it's still a lot of fun and their DVD presentation is, aside from the video flagging issue, still a worthwhile consideration for fans of the bad man from Japan. Even if he doesn't have a huge role his stamp of approval is all over this baby.