Ninja Battle
Directed by: Seiji ChibaStarring: Aiko Ito, Shuji Kashiwabara, Daisuke Nagakura Synopsis: In 1581, the Iga province of Japan was annihilated by Oda Nobunaga and the Koga allied forces with many blaming the Iga’s downfall on the treachery of the Iga shinobi Shimoyama Kai. Prior to these events, a team of ninja agents were dispatched on a covert mission to prevent Oda and the Koga from gaining the upper hand. This is their story… When a small group of Iga ninjas find their comrade Yoshimori lying dead in a cave next to a bound a gagged girl, they immediately suspect her of somehow being involved in his murder. The girl, Sawa, is revealed to be a low-ranking Koga ninja from the distant Kashiwagi village and claims she was forced by Yoshimori to work for him as a traitor against her own clan. Sawa is believed to be in possession of a secret document containing information that could lead to the Iga’s successful resistance in the conflict with the Koga. But all is not as it appears. As the Iga ninjas start to unravel the mystery surrounding Yoshimori’s death and continue their search for the missing vital document, Sawa proves that even tightly bound and at the mercy of her captors, she is still capable of being a deadly assassin. Meanwhile, during the interrogation of the girl, the ninjas begin to reveal their own true colours as bluffs, double bluffs, lies and betrayals come to the fore and threaten to compromise the mission. Review:Another nihilistic tale set during the covert war between three ninja clans, Ninja Battle arrives after three very similar ninja tales from Seiji Chiba (Alien vs Ninja, Rogue Ninja and Ninja Girl), Ninja Battle offers nothing new. Set in that same damn cave as all the others – in fact about 90% of this particular entry is set solely in there – this is essentially a chamber mystery. Three Iga ninjas come across a bound and blind-folded woman next to a dead ninja – a supposed traitor they had been tracking. What follows is a series of badly established flash-backs and double-crosses and Big Reveals which I found very difficult to care about. 
To add insult to injury, there is hardly any action in this instalment either, and what there is, is poorly organised. One action scene sees a battle between two factions of the same clan – both sides dressed absolutely identical to each other, so to the viewer it looks as like the whole lot have gone rabid and are indiscriminately attacking one another for no discerning reason.
Ninja Battle barely lasts 70 minutes, and yet there is so much padding. The camera will linger on some lit candles for an eternity while no one speaks – you can imagine they are all just staring at each other collecting their thoughts.Verdict: Ninja Battle is for completists only. By using the same location time and again, Seiji Chiba has ensured that each of his films are only discernable by their stars – the one with the crappy aliens, the one with Mika Hijii, the one with Rina Takeda, and now one with no redeeming cast member at all. Ninja movies aren’t meant to be as boring as this. 4 out of 10 (MikeOutWest) New! CommentsHave your say about this! Leave me a comment in the box below. |
