Without doubt one of the very finest Ninja movies ever made, this film also marked the explosive screen debut of the incredible Conan Lee. Even more amazingly, the said actor had previously no martial arts experience whatsoever prior to filming this although you would never guess this judging by his awesome physical performance here.
The fight scenes (choreographed by none other than the superb Corey Yuen who also directs the film) are absolutely jaw dropping, in fact they are undoubtedly some of the best combat scenes ever committed to celluloid.
Hiroyuki Sanada is the Ninja of the movies title and clearly demonstrates to us all why he is considered to be one of the very best screen martial artists ever, displaying probably some of the most graceful moves ever seen in any martial arts film.
Added to this, and a real treat for fans of old style kung fu, the always superb Hwang Jang Lee, considered by many as the greatest leg fighter ever, turns up at the films climax as, yes you've guessed it the main villain! (As he was perpetually type cast!)
Special note also must be made of the extremely cool music that cranks up throughout
..highly memorable; it'll have you humming it for days!
It's very strange that after such an explosive screen debut, Conan Lee's fame dissipated so quickly. The actor was in fact even being tauted at the time as the next Jackie Chan. Just goes to show what a fickle business the movie industry is.
