Wang ming ren zhe

I think that the comments made by the previous reviewer sum this film up perfectly.

The opening sequence in this movie is admittedly hilarious..... We get to witness female ninja mud wrestling, agonising stretching techniques, ice water torture and a bit more wrestling, this time involving a HUGE and frankly scary looking fellow, and all this is backed by the Rocky 2 theme!!!! WOW!!!

Sadly however, after such a dramatic opening, everything that follows in its wake is rendered inevitably rather lame in comparison.

To be equitable, the story itself could be said to be mildly more engaging than most martial arts fodder; Here we have a sort of simple 'who hired the ninja' type mystery alongside the usual revenge scenario (the staple plot for 99% of all martial arts movies) However, a cardinal sin in this is that for the most part, the martial arts choreography throughout is somewhat lazy and unimaginative.

One or two scenes do stand out though luckily, such as when our hero takes on the previously mentioned wrestler and is literally bounced off the walls by him!

Overall then, not a ninja classic by any means but worth a watch if your enjoy the genre nonetheless.