Ninja Terminator Blu Ray Review (Neon Eagle Video)

Ninja Terminator is a 1986 action film written and directed by Godfrey Ho (Men Behind the Sun franchise, The Dragon’s Snake Fist, Warriors of Kung Fu, Ninja: The Violent Sorceror, Mission Thunderbolt, Zombie vs. Ninja, Challenge of the Ninja, Ninja Avengers, Super Platoon, Undefeatable, and Fury in the Shaolin Temple). It was produced by Joseph Lai (Golden Ninja Warrior, The Ninja Showdown, Ninja Strike Force, Year of the Kickboxer, Naked Revenge, and Zombie vs. Ninja) and Betty Chan (Bionic Ninja, Rings Untouchable, Kickboxer from Hell, Full Metal Ninja, Law of Honor, and The Ninja Squad). A group of ninjas which includes Harry (played by: Richard Harrison from Terror Force Commando, Ninja Dragon, Empire of the Dark, Angel Eyes, Terminal Force, Cobra vs. Ninja, Evil Spawn, Hands of Death, and Highway to Hell), compete to control the ultimate artifact of their craft – the Golden Ninja Warrior statue! Meanwhile, a secret agent Jaguar Wong (played by: Jack Lam from Screwball Hotel, Ninja Champion, Armageddon, and Chains of Gold) tries to bust up an organized crime ring lead by Tiger Chang (played by: Jeong-lee Hwang from The Invincible Armour, Game of Death II, Darkside of Chinatown, Future Hunters, and Drunken Master) that is somehow connected to the statue!!!!! Ninja Terminator is ridiculous and over the top but it’s a blast. It’s so bad that it’s actually pretty good with it’s crazy atmosphere. The script is so random and unintentionally hilarious. Veteran director Godfrey Ho knows exactly what he is making here and he embraces it’s insanity. Character actor Richard Harrison is Ninja Master Harry or Gordon depending on which version that you watch. He stands out like a sore thumb in this, his character is very interesting and dangerous. Jack Lam as Jaguar Wong is basically the lead in this despite Harrison getting top billing. This dude is a bad ass and he can handle himself when it comes to martial arts. He is damn near always outnumbered but he still manages to defeat anything in his way. The supporting cast includes Jeong-lee Hwang, Jonathan Wattis (Kung Hei Fat Choy), Maria Francesca (Day of Violence), Phillip Ko (Tiger on Beat), James Chan (Thunder of Gigantic Serpent), Simon Kim (Wishmaster 2), Tae-Joon Lee (American Chinatown), Paulo Tocha (Bloodsport), and Sing Chen (Double Impact). It uses footage from 1984’s The Uninvited Guest of the Star Ferry. I will say that it has some quality fights and stunt choreography. Ninja Terminator delivers a little bit of everything here. The awful dubbing for this makes it damn near a comedy at times. Ninja Terminator is loaded with so many WTF moments like a talking robot sending a threatening message, killing escaped crabs before dinner, random teleportation, men rocking some really bad women wigs, endless awful henchmen, hairy women, and a retro Garfield phone. Ninja Terminator is an awful movie in so many different ways but it has a weird charm to it. It’s beyond fun and very entertaining in every possible way. The replay value is strong considering how batshit crazy this is!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from Neon Eagle Video! This 1080p (2.39:1) unrated transfer is from a brand new 4K restoration from the original camera negative. I’ve compared this to some of the older versions from back in the day and it’s a huge upgrade compared to those. Ninja Terminator will never be reference quality but this is definitely the best it will ever look on home video. Everything is much sharper now. It has an English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track on the disc. The atrocious dubbing and corny screenplay makes the audio more entertaining for sure. It had some nice action, explosives, and fights. All of the dialogue is very clean, the ninja chaos is elevated, and the music has a solid boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. It has an “Audio Commentary” with Podcast on Fire Network’s Kenneth Boreson and Phil Gillon. It has an additional “Audio Commentary” with film experts Arne Venema and Mike Leeder. It has the little over 16 minute “Ninja Master: Interview with Godfrey Ho”. He chats about his early career and how he started out as an assistant director for the Shaw Brothers. He talks about the addition of Richard Harrison and Joseph Lai to this project. He brings up the popularity of the American Ninja franchise and that’s why he did the new footage with American actors help it get bigger distribution. He kept all the crazy moments from the original The Uninvited Guest of the Star Ferry feature. Harrison just wanted a vacation in Hong Kong so that’s what motivated him to do this. It was his first production with IFD as a star. It has the little over 17 minute “Golden Ninja Dub: Interview with Godfrey Ho and Dubber Simon Broad”. They chat about how almost all Hong Kong productions were dubbed back in the day. They talk about how they kept the costs down and the budget lower while doing these smaller features. They bring up some people did voices for multiple characters. They go over the process of putting this together. It has the little over 19 minute “Ninjamania: How Ninjas Invaded the West: Interview with author Chip Poggiali”. He chats about the Ninja sub-genre blowing up in the 80’s and so many took advantage of it. He talks about the novel that inspired it all. He goes over a variety of major projects that had the ninja influence. He brings up IFD and Ninja Terminator. It has a “Trailer”. It has a hidden extra, the almost 9 minute “What’s the Story with this Giant Multitude of Ninja Movies Starring Richard Harrison” with Chris Poggiali and archive footage with Richard Harrison. Richard Harrison claims that he only really made one legit Ninja movie during his career. He chats about people stealing footage of him and putting them in their films without his permission. He has some negative stuff to say about the director here and his producers. It has reversible artwork. This is the standard wide release, the original limited edition is out of print. It’s available everywhere right now including DiabolikDvd.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!