Ola G
Cole (Franco Nero), a mercenary and veteran of the Namibian War of Independence, completes his ninjutsu training in Japan. Cole goes to visit his war buddy Frank Landers and his wife of two years, Mary Ann Landers (Susan George), who are the owners of a large piece of farming land in the Philippines. Cole soon finds that the Landers are being repeatedly harassed by Charles Venarius, the wealthy CEO of Venarius Industries, in order to get them to sell their property because, unbeknownst to them, a large oil deposit is located beneath their land. Cole thwarts the local henchmen Venarius has hired to bully and coerce the Landers. Cole and Frank infiltrate Venarius' base, and defeat a number of his henchmen. In the aftermath, Frank gets drunk and confesses to Cole that he is impotent. Mary Ann comes to Cole that night and they have an affair. Venarius, learning that Cole is a ninja, hires a ninja of his own to eliminate Frank and Cole - Hasegawa (Sho Kosugi), who is a rival of Cole from their old training days...
In a contemporary review, Robert Brown of the Monthly Film Bulletin gave the film a negative review, stating that it "seems singularly lacking in even the commercial ingredients that made Enter the Dragon such a successful showcase for the Kung Fu genre". Brown commented that Golan "never seems to have decided which genre he was exploiting, and ended up mistakenly crossing romantic drama with martial arts". A review by Hubert Niogret in the French film magazine Positif found the film's only purpose was to create a commercial project that was only popular for less demanding audiences and was only popular in the summer in France where there was little competition for quality cinema. Richard Harrington of The Washington Post wrote that the "plot limps along looking for convenient excuses for Ninjas to enter into brawls", noting that "none of the reasoning, acting or dialogue is particularly bright much less believable" while "the best directing in the film comes from fight choreographer and ex-karate champion Mike Stone, who obviously gets his kicks in". From a retrospective review, Donald Guarisco of AllMovie stated that film was a "pretty lackluster affair". Guarisco also commented on Franco Nero that it "looks uncomfortable as the ninja expert and fails to perform convincingly during the fight scenes" and that Susan George was wasted as the damsel in distress. Although noting a large amount of fighting scenes in the film, he felt that they did not have skillful choreography and sharp editing to make them visceral for the film. (Via Wikipedia)
I remember this film's cover art vividly back in the 80´s, but I cannot recall if I did see it back then. I don't think so, and now it was time to have a look at this martial arts film. It's clear that Franco Nero is not all that comfortable in this role as a ninja and it's also clear that he only does the close up scenes when he does put on the ninja costume, creating a pretty wobbly performance. I agree with Robert Brown of the Monthly Film Bulletin saying Menahem Golan "never seems to have decided which genre he was exploiting, and ended up mistakenly crossing romantic drama with martial arts". The end product is just a mix of genres that hardly satisfies considering the title of the film. The lovely Susan George just becomes a damsel in distress and her appearance is wasted. And Sho Kosugi does his best of being the bad ninja. "Enter The Ninja" is just a B-movie that might excite someone on a nostalgic level having seen it back in 1981, but not for someone else.
Trivia: The film began a craze of ninja-themed Hollywood films during the early 1980s and was the first film in Cannon Films' Ninja Trilogy, an anthology series which includes Revenge of the Ninja (1983) and Ninja III: The Domination (1984). The film launched the career of Sho Kosugi, who went on to play the leading role in both the film's sequels, while also starring in other 1980s ninja-themed films and television shows such as The Master (1984). (Via Wikipedia)
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
07/06/25
Full Review
CodyZamboni Z
Ultra lame, Boring action scenes, A waste of talent, Only spark is Sho Kosugji,
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
02/08/25
Full Review
Andrew M
Excellent martial arts exhibition in this film.
Comedic beyond anything I have ever seen in a martial arts movie, especially anything involving Mr. Parker.
The movie does not have an American feel which I find most interesting since Ninjas were such an American obsession when the film was made.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
10/11/24
Full Review
Alexander B
It had terrible fight choreography especially from the lead character who I could tell was not a martial artist. The special effects were pretty bad even for the time. It did have some funny moments but they weren't intentional. The villian was a good martial artist so he should have been the main character.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
04/12/23
Full Review
Marcelo H
Just for the nostalgia!
I wouldn't watch it again.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
04/02/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Cannon Films need to be on our site more often, but that's because I want to make sure that I have the time and energy to properly focus on this astounding company. But hey — let's get things started by talking about Enter the Ninja, a movie written by the man who stole Priscilla from Elvis, Mike Stone, and nearly starred in it before his acting ability supposedly wasn't good enough for a ninja movie Luckily, Franco Nero was in the Philippines and Stone was nice enough to remain on set as the fight double for Nero and the fight/stunt coordinator.
That's right — Django as a ninja. Make that a ninja that cucks his best friend and arrdvarking his wife Susan George and then fighting Sho Kosugi.
If you were wondering why I loved Cannon Films so much, just read that last sentence again.
Cole (Nero) is a soldier who has become a ninja — much like Snake-Eyes in the Marvel comics — before he visits his war buddy Frank Landers and his new wife Mary Ann (Ms. George) who own a giant farm in the Philippines that is threatened by Charles Venarius (Christopher George), whose Venarius Industries wants the oil that's on their land.
After said cuckolding — Frank had already drunkenly confessed to our hero that he couldn't life his own katana, so to speak — Venarius' henchmen kill Frank and kidnap Mary Ann. That means that Cole has to battle his way through all of the many soldiers in his way before battling his old sword brother Hasegawa (Sho Kosugi).
Directed by Menahem Golan, who also gave us The Apple, this is actually the exact kind of movie that I want it to be. Golan said, "It started when Chinese karate films became popular. I looked for something new in Asian martial arts and found information about the ninja culture in an encyclopedia. The ninja were middle-class people in Japan — lawyers, government clerks, etc. It was a secret organization that helped the feudal government. It actually preceded the Chinese karate battles. They used very special methods, developing their sixth sense. That fascinated me and I said I could write story ideas out of it, so we made Enter the Ninja and American Warrior later on. Many imitations followed."
Actually, Emmett Alston was supposed to be the film's original director. Supposedly Charles Bronson refused to allow Golan to direct Death Wish II. Alston directed Force of the Ninja and Nine Deaths of the Ninja, which is somehow even better than this.
Also, I know that we got a whole bunch of Kosugi ninja movies, which I love, but man, why did we not get another Franco Nero in karate PJs movie?
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
Full Review
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