Having said that, it’s quite a lot of fun. Terrible acting, even worse martial arts. who won’t take no for an answer, and a series of escalating attacks forces Cole to take up his ninja training in order to end once and for all, which brings him to a final confrontation with Hasagawa… Cole leaves the dojo to visit his friend, Frank Landers, a fellow war veteran who is having problems with a local businessman named Venarius. During his celebration dinner, Hasagawa (Kosugi) has to bitch out and point out that yes, somewhere in the film he’s going to be a BAD GUY. The film opens as we meet Cole, a Vietnam war vet (they all had to be in the 80’s) who has just finished his ninja Training in the Philippines, in the most ludicrous testing scene ever, where he runs through and it looks as if he’s killed like a dozen guys (even giving a dude a throwing star to the face! To the Face!) and then, after testing is done, those very same dudes walk back in like “it’s nothing. Now if the best of its kind means an Italian-actor-who-knows-no-martial-arts-pretends-to -be-a-ninja-master-for-two-hours-and-features-the-funniest-death-scene-of-a-villain-in-the- history-of-cinema then well, yeah, it is the best of the genre.

Here we get a ninja film that dares to use the “Enter The…” in its title, which now somehow means it’s the best of its kind EVER. Franco Nero has the charisma of a tree trunk.

The fight choreography is immensely entertaining to watch. Uproarious A ridiculous experience that can only exist amongst movie marathons and ironic viewings. I feel so sad for those who weren’t old enough to bask in the glory of Golan-Globus, for whom the Ninja films of the 80’s wouldn’t have been half as fun as they were, as well as other 80’s creations (like Chuck Norris films). FINAL FILM: Enter the Ninja (1981) Directed by Menahem Golan. Starring Franco Nero, Sho Kosugi, Susan George, Christopher George

Enter the ninja movie