Ninja Thunderbolt (1984)

the leading man is my tpye

Too many fans seem to be blown away

Good concept, poorly executed.

Better than most people think

NINJA THUNDERBOLT is one of the infamous cut-and-paste ninja movies churned out by Godfrey Ho in the 1980s. It features a main film which attempts to be semi-serious but which is rendered all but incoherent thanks to the re-cutting and re-dubbing, plus lots of added-on scenes of ninja fighting and random action starring main man Richard Harrison. I do get a kick out of some of these movies - NINJA TERMINATOR is a hoot and I love SCORPION THUNDERBOLT - but NINJA THUNDERBOLT is a disappointment.The original film is pretty dull and the ninja stuff even more silly than usual. Harrison falls out with his ninja buddies and runs around randomly shouting 'ninja!'. There are a lot of set-piece battles in the woods and outrageously cheesy chase scenes. Yasuaki Kurata plays a ninja (of course) and Don Wong is the 'straight' lead. See it to believe it.

If (like me) you've ever yearned to witness a ninja make crude finger gestures at pursuing police officers whilst driving a car at break neck speeds or to witness a group of ninja on roller skates frantically battering a tiny bubble car with sticks then this my friends is surely the movie for you! Yes it could only be a Godfrey Ho monstrosity....er, I mean masterpiece.These movies were not exactly coherent plot wise at the best of times so it came as doubly baffling when I sat down to watch this one and found that it was an Italian dub with no subtitles!!!!! Nonetheless, I braved the linguistic barrier to behold what appears to be some of the most random and unconnected footage ever spliced into one movie!To be honest, I doubt had I watched the movie in an English dub it would have made much difference-this film is all over the place!The police hero seems to get into a fight every five minutes or so after which a random gratuitous sex scene between some of the other characters suddenly turns up for no particular reason which is immediately followed by our hero getting involved in yet another scuffle!Richard Harrison (playing another cop/ninja) makes a drug related arrest once in a while also and has a brief ninja duel at the films climax....Yep, all in all this is a real mess!Still, having said this, some scenes such as those mentioned at the beginning of this review, do add a not inconsiderable charm to the proceedings here and there is even an opportunity to watch a young Jackie Chan in action (for about 10 seconds!!!!!)Overall: Recommended for die hard bad ninja movie lovers and Godfrey Ho fans (yes we really exist)

I have to say that this movie contains the best chase scene ever to be filmed in the history of mankind! When the main character, Mr. Harry Wong (no joke) gets into his tiny little car and is chased by ninjas wearing white rollerskates with big pink wheels. If you manage to find this one, rent it! Just beware of the 2 absolutely random and gratuities sex scenes. They kinda pop outta nowhere.All in all, it's your typical Kung Fu type movie out of Hong Kong, but with a bizarre and puzzling twist at the end. "Ninja Death!"Watch out.

To put it simply, Ninja Thunderbolt is the best of the 'stolen jade horse insurance fraud is investigated by a man in a bubble car pursued by roller-skating ninjas' movies to come out of the Hong Kong based IFD Films stable in the mid 80s.Richard Harrison, as he does so many times in Joseph Lai's productions, puts on a brave face as his scenes are once again spliced into a separate film where he interacts with characters he's blatantly never met. In this case Harrison plays cool headed cop Richard (Richard's contract with IFD films stipulated that he MUST always play a character called Richard or Gordon) who assists bubble car driving cop Harry Wong in solving a suspected insurance fraud. I say 'assists', but in reality Richard's assistance is limited to telephoning him a couple of times and showing Harry - who is really in the same room as Richard - screen shots of the rest of the cast in upcoming scenes …er, I mean Hong Kong Police intelligence photographs of suspects to the fraud.But why waste time worrying about the plot – no one who made Ninja Thunderbolt did – when it contains some of the unintentionally funniest scenes ever committed to celluloid? Your sides barely have time to recover from one baffling action sequence before the next one takes you by the scruff of the neck and throws you head first into a vat of cheese. Only a master craftsman of the pedigree of Godfrey Ho would confuse the audience with a car chase involving two identical white Nissans, the tension cranked up just that little extra by running the film at Benny Hill chase speeds, or disorientate the viewer further with a ski-chase sequence (speeded up of course) shot from considerable distance (the other side of the valley) with seven or eight identically dressed skiers with their faces covered.But what really makes this film worthwhile are the roller-skating ninjas. Yes, you read me correctly, roller-skating ninjas. It even has a small part for a young Jackie Chan, and I haven't even got time to describe the 'sizzling' shower love scene, the cardboard telephone booths, the cars that drive in two wheels without even bothering to resort to the movie formula of hitting the rear-side of another vehicle, the motorbikes whose tyres screech on grass verges, the drug dealer who produces joints from his mouth, the...well I could go on and on.Basically, if you ever see a copy of this film in your local video store, or more likely in a bargain bin at your local market stall or car-boot sale, you could do much worse that get your hands on a copy. Your blood will forever be motivated by ninja spirit.