NINJA IN THE DRAGON’S DEN
aka NINJA IN THE DRAGON DEN
aka NINJA KOMMANDO
aka NINJA WARRIORS
aka LONG ZHI REN ZHE
aka NINJA EJDERHA ININDE
aka NINJA EN LA CUEVA DEL DRAGON
Hong Kong 1982
Directed by: Corey Yuen Kwai
Cast: Conan Lee Yuen-ba, Hiroyuki Sanada, Hwang Jang Lee, Tin Chung-ho, Tai Bo, Chun Do-yiu, Kaname Tsushima, Ng See-yuen, Tin Fung, Shiu Gau-san, Kwan Yung-moon, Ngai Ping-ngo, Peng Kong...
Running Time: 97 min. (UK DVD)
Tagline
(taken from the UK DVD) A stunning, ground-breaking martial arts action-adventure from Corey Yuen-kwai, the acclaimed action director of ‘Romeo must Die’ and ‘Kiss of the Dragon’. Covertext (taken from the UK DVD) Red-hot from his phenomenal success with Jackie Chan’s ‘Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow’ and ‘Drunken Master’, legendary producer Ng See Yuen put together one of the largest budgets of his time, to bring to the big screen this compelling tale of two opposing warriors, one Japanese and one Chinese, brought together by destiny and the sacrifice of their master, to defeat an all powerful enemy. Featuring breath-taking art design, and shot on stunning locations in both mainland Japan and China, ‘Ninja in the Dragon’s Den’ combines the lethal high-precision arts of the Japanese Ninja Warrior with the physical flamboyance and dynamic flexibility of Chinese Kung Fu to create a martial-arts showcase of truly epic proportions. Now re-mastered for the first time ever on DVD, ‘Ninja in the Dragon’s Den’ showcases a truly remarkable performance from Japanese screen-idol Hiroyuki Sanada, whose emotive, charismatic acting style and fluid mastery of the Japanese fighting arts guarantee him a place as one of the most memorable martial-arts screen Legends of all time!
My Thoughts
Director Corey Yuen Kwai should be no stranger to you readers. He’s responsible for several fine action films that certainly belong to the créme de la créme of Hong Kong genre cinema. To name just a few, he has directed POLICE ASSASSINS (1985), BLONDE FURY (1989), SHE SHOOTS STRAIGHT (1990), SAVIOUR OF THE SOUL (1992), THE BODYGUARD FROM BEIJING (1994), HIGH RISK (1995), and ENTER THE EAGLES (1998). Besides, he was Second Unit Director/Assistant Director on films such as KISS OF THE DRAGON (2001), THE TRANSPORTER (2002), and THE TRANSPORTER 2 (2005), action choreographer on ZU: WARRIORS FROM THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN (1983) and FONG SAI-YUK (1993), martial arts choreographer on LETHAL WEAPON 4 (1998) and THE ONE (2001), and he also acted in more than sixty films, some of them being THE OILY MANIAC (1976), SOUL BROTHERS OF KUNG FU (1978), Sammo Hung’s masterpiece PEDICAB DRIVER (1989), and THE LAST BLOOD (1990). This is just a small overview of his work in the film business, as he has got a lot of other credits in different movies from the 1970s to the present. Looking at his impressive filmography it should come as no surprise that NINJA IN THE DRAGON’S DEN is a classic in its own right. While the story is quite straight and simple Corey Yuen’s direction and action choreography is energetic, imaginative and sometimes even breath-taking and original. The result is a great action movie that is both entertaining and fascinating at the same time. There are some really funny moments because some scenes are clearly played for laughs and while the humour is certainly not for all tastes I have to admit I enjoyed it very much. In the beginning we see a bunch of Ninjas training their skills, and while this may be original in the early 1980s it almost has become a standard by now. After some fast-paced and furious action we get to know the characters and both Hiroyuki Sanada and Conan Lee (although his idiot sidekick is a bit of an annoyance) are quite good in their roles. Of course common things (at least in Hong Kong movies) like honour, betrayal and revenge are slipped into the simple storyline to make the characters and their motivations more interesting. While there are some fine moments of action in the first half of the movie (watch out for a great fight on stilts!) Corey Yuen gave his special attention rather to the characters and some good comedy. The second half, on the other hand, is almost a non-stop display of great fight scenes up till the very end when there even are some supernatural elements thrown in for good measure. And with the help of a pair of Japanese tits our heroes are finally able to defeat the demon-possessed opponent. This hugely entertaining flick is not really gory, although you can witness two decapitations and – my favorite moment – a severed foot that will make you laugh out loud most probably. NINJA IN THE DRAGON’S DEN is a great movie in all respects, filled to the brim with excellent fights, cool Ninja action and so much energy that it will last for more than three movies. If you like top-notch Hong Kong martial arts films combined with fine Ninja action than this one is practically made for you. It doesn’t get much better than this, so don’t loose any time and get the terrific UK-DVD released by the Hong Kong Legends label. NINJA IN THE DRAGON’S DEN is great entertainment because the movie is great, so it’s almost the total opposite to all those so-bad-they-are-hilarious flicks by infamous producers/directors Godfrey Ho, Joseph Lai and Tomas Tang. See for yourself and you know what I mean.
© Copyright 01/2006
All text by myself (except for some quotations where mentioned)
All photos are copyright their respective owners and are reproduced here in the
spirit of publicity. All screenshots are by myself.