The Ninja Always Rings Once
Lance (Gabriel Leon) wants to be a ninja. He also, desperately, wants a girlfriend and this is quite excruciatingly apparent to every woman he meets in the course of his job – a pizza delivery boy for Ninja Pizza. Well, where else would you expect him to be working?
Unfortunately for Lance, his desperation to meet women lands him in trouble – repeatedly – until he finally hits rock bottom and loses his job. And it’s now, while alone and pondering his options that he – rather improbably – encounters a real-life ninja, Takeshi Banzai (Seiji Kakizaki). Banzai is getting on a bit, and being hunted by another group of ninjas, but also considers himself to be in debt to Lance who accidentally rescued him from his enemies.
Consequently, he agrees to take the younger man on as a student. This is a decision that Banzai quickly begins to regret as he becomes aware of just how eccentric Lance really is. Still, the student does learn – slowly – and over the course of the training Takeshi starts to rediscover his own long-suppressed ambitions.
Inevitably enough, once Lance starts to pick up some ninja skills his attention returns to his amorous ambitions and, once again, his dorkiness lands him in trouble, this time putting both Takashi’s and his own life in danger…
The Ninja Always Rings Once is a very funny film. Obviously, it is a ninja film and it is both a spoof of and a homage to the many direct to video examples of this genre that were churned out in the 1980s.
We have the cod philosophy, the manic chases and the over-the top fight scenes, all of which are very well choreographed. Although there is a jokey sense of humour present throughout the film, director Christopher Genovese clearly knows and appreciates the genre for what it is.
Part of the appreciation of the ninja genre, of course, includes recognising the absurdity of many of the elements in these films. And Genovese not only recognises this, but takes full advantage of it to deliver a deft and very funny comedy which works well even if you have never seen a ninja film before.
The acting in this film is very strong throughout and both Leon and Kakizaki do a great job of bringing their characters to life and generating some real sympathy for both. Also worth mentioning is the soundtrack which, as with everything else, really fits the spirit of the film. And I loved the Ninja Pizza uniform.
Overall, The Ninja Always Rings Once is a solidly entertaining film that has plenty to fans of both action films and comedies. But it goes beyond that and also has a great deal of fun with the ninja genre, making it doubly entertaining to anyone who remembers the films it’s spoofing.
Thursday 10 Jan 2008 | Paul Pritchard | Action, Comedy
