Ninja in the Dragon's Den (1982)

Full on Ninja Mania

Pitting the lethal arts of Chinese Kung Fu and Japanese ninjitsu against each other in a battle for supremacy, Ninja in the Dragon's Den seemingly has everything you'd ever want out of a martial arts film and the kitchen sink thrown in for good measure, be it ridiculous stilt fighting, ninjas galore, demonic possession, the hero fighting the latter half of the movie in a pink outfit and female anatomy saving the day, this is undoubtedly a classic; a mixture of typical Jackie Chan-style comedy and hard-hitting ninja action, but unusually the two styles mix very well and the film, as a result, is great fun. This Hong Kong / Japanese co-production came about due to the explosion of ninja-mania in the early 80s, one that showcases the contrasting styles of its two cultures in plenty of no-holds-barred and hilarious action. For being Corey Yuen's directorial debut, he pretty much knocked it out of the park on his first go, despite the conventional storyline he manages to give the material a slightly unusual twist, a credit to his years as an action choreographer, offering up highly entertaining set pieces with an endearing vein of slapstick humour. Young Conan Lee and Hiroyuki Sanada are particularly well-rounded here, although Sanada eclipses Lee for most of the runtime, the film does a great job of exhibiting their respective skills. Playing as an offbeat tribute and parody of its own Ninjaspolitation sub-genre, it's hard not to love Ninja in the Dragon’s Den, an exhilarating action film that fully delivers for every second of its running time, the amazingly repetitive theme song certainly reinforces that.

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