Tongan Ninja (2002)

An Exercise In Nonsense

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Although somewhat of a bargain basement film (I picked it up for £2.99!) it seems I found an undiscovered gem! Although I was dubious in the first scene about whether I would find it funny, it soon got into the swing of things and was an absolute laugh riot, as well as a lovingly written nod to the old 70's martial arts dubs and other films such as Karate Kid (The restaurant workers claim to train at the Larusso Dojo) and possibly the Steven Chow films (The end fight is very Shaolin Soccer) A lot of the film bafflingly silly, but not unenjoyably so. The impromptu dance routines, Jermaine-covered pop songs and insane characters such as Knife Man (Who fights with kitchen knives) and Gun Man (a 'Leon'-esque character who couldn't hit a barn door) just add to the bizarreness of the film. Even better is the way the bad guys are introduced, in a computer game style reminiscent of Mortal Kombat. Showing their fighting stats underneath, the characters are shown in the screen in the corner posing with their weapons amid scantily clad dancing women. Although the humour is quite in your face and the action is mainly slapstick, purposely bad effects, dubbing akin to 'Hercules Returns', and not much budget just make it funnier. Absolutely fantastic!

I own the DVD. I had to have it. It is just unfortunate that this piece of cinematic brilliance (Use your own judgment) only screened once in New Zealand (and as an ARTS film ?!?) when it received accolades in countries such as Finland and Bulgaria! I recommend it to anyone with a NZ sense of humor and also anyone who liked Kung Pow. I recommend it to all my friends. Then I hear that they recommended it to all their friends as well. I am still waiting for someone to tell me they did not like this move.Be sure to check out the special features too. Lord of the Ring's Peter Jackson displays a rare view of his acting talent. If he is for this movie - you should be too!

You are pretty sure you are onto a winner when the person at the video store can't help telling you how fantastic a movie is.Another good sign is when the missus, who generally loathes both chop socky films and goofy brainless humour, is choking for breath halfway through because she is laughing so hard.As other reviewers have said, see this with a bunch of like-minded friends in a happy mood if you want a joyful evening. The fights! The dialogue! The car chase! The special effects! And make sure you watch the extras on the DVD. Not yer average "Making Of", trailers or TV spots...

Well-pitched parody. Its strength is that it doesn't take itself seriously but clearly appreciates (and sweetly imitates) the over-dubbed corny kung fu movie genre. The DVD commentary is very loose and laid-back (often funny) but explains why the movie was so suited to parodying this style: it took 3 years to film, on a minimal budget. The over-dubbing was necessary because they couldn't afford sound recording on set. It was a simple extra step to deliberately mis-time the dubbing (or you could take the word of the lead actor that they were all carefully schooled in the art of speaking lines out of sync with their lips). A cult movie, best viewed with a group of friends, some popcorn and a few beers. I highly recommend the "extras" on the DVD: hilarious cast interviews as well as interviews with Peter Jackson (who always wanted to make the movie, couldn't get the rights and had to settle for making LOTR).