While generally labeled as a contemporary Hong Kong kung fu film, A LIFE OF NINJA (1983) is actually something of a rarity for the genrean adult suspense thriller with ninja fight scenes integrated into the plot. The wide-ranging ninja action gets a little far-fetched at times, but the filmmakers take care to establish some history and provide a context for it to play out in a modern urban setting in a dramatically plausible way. The story's also filled with mature characters who behave like real adults, all played by strong actors. The first hour of the film is more concerned with plot and character and the build-up of suspense, while the last third crams in the ninja fight scenes at a fast-and-furious clip, culminating in a major showdown between the hero and his ninja counterpart.
The plot has to do with a corrupt, philandering Hong Kong businessman, Chan Ming-fu, who finds himself the target of a ninja clan after launching a deal involving a Japanese company. He has problems with a wife angry over his unfaithfulness and her sister, Sun Chi Mei, who runs competing business ventures. The hero, Chow Han Wei, is a kendo teacher with ninja training, who begins a romance with Chi Mei, the business-owning sister-in-law and an accomplished fighter in her own right, and is ultimately recruited as a bodyguard for Chan Ming-fu. A police detective investigates murders of various associates of Chan Ming-fu and asks for help from Chow Han Wei as well. A female ninja infiltrates Chan's business operation and succeeds in bugging his office to monitor his plans. Chow manages to fend off ninja attacks on his client, his girlfriend and himself, all of which involve an intriguing array of ninja weapons and techniques, and he eventually takes the fight to the Iga Ninja Clan's elaborate cave headquarters on an island near Hong Kong, where he engages in a frenzied sword fight with attacking black-clad ninjas and finally takes on the clan leader in an intense one-on-one kung fu bout. There are flashbacks to Chow's own ninja training as a youth with a Japanese teacher who was slain by the Iga ninja chief.
There's a PSYCHO-style shower murder early in the film in which a ninja stabs a woman with a stiletto made of ice. Under the opening credits, there are scenes of female mud wrestling and other questionable "training" techniques, in addition to brief scenes of female nudity later in the film. The more outlandish ninja fight scenes are provided by a prominent wrestler in the cast named Wong Kin Mi, who plays one of the ninja killers. He has one crazy scene where he takes on a carful of men (and their car!) in an underground parking garage. He later engages in a grueling fight with the hero, who, while doing many of his own stunts, may have taken some real punishment.
The plot moves well, the ninja scenes are imaginatively staged and the actors take it all seriously. The big revelation for me among the cast members was Elsa Yeung Wai San, who plays Sun Chi Mei and creates quite an interesting and attractive character. We first meet her when she enters Chow's fencing school clad in red cloak, white blouse and tight black leather pants and challenges him to a sword fight to see if he's good enough to teach her. Later, she has a fight in a bar with a group of rowdy men trying to grope her drunken sister. She's good enough to make us wish she were in more fight scenes. Chen Kuan Tai, in his post-Shaw period, plays Chow as a handsome leading man, a confident hero with a romantic touch, mellower and more mature than he was in his fiercer Shaw roles. He even has a (fully-clothed) love scene with the lead actress.
Yasuaki Kurata, a Japanese actor active in Hong Kong films since 1971, and a favorite of many kung fu fans, plays the elusive ninja leader who fights Chow at the end. Chen Hung Lieh, a regular in Shaw Bros. costume adventures in the 1960s and early '70s (he was Jade-Faced Assassin in COME DRINK WITH ME), plays the short-fused businessman who hires Chow to protect him from the ninjas. Tin Man Chung plays the persistent police captain who investigates the murders and accepts Chow as an ally. I have been unable to identify the actress who plays the female ninja, but she's quite effective.
Taiwan-based director Lee Tso Nam also made such exemplary old-school kung fu films as THE HOT, THE COOL AND THE VICIOUS, EAGLE'S CLAW, FATAL NEEDLES FATAL FIST, CHALLENGE OF DEATH and GREEN JADE STATUETTE.
The plot has to do with a corrupt, philandering Hong Kong businessman, Chan Ming-fu, who finds himself the target of a ninja clan after launching a deal involving a Japanese company. He has problems with a wife angry over his unfaithfulness and her sister, Sun Chi Mei, who runs competing business ventures. The hero, Chow Han Wei, is a kendo teacher with ninja training, who begins a romance with Chi Mei, the business-owning sister-in-law and an accomplished fighter in her own right, and is ultimately recruited as a bodyguard for Chan Ming-fu. A police detective investigates murders of various associates of Chan Ming-fu and asks for help from Chow Han Wei as well. A female ninja infiltrates Chan's business operation and succeeds in bugging his office to monitor his plans. Chow manages to fend off ninja attacks on his client, his girlfriend and himself, all of which involve an intriguing array of ninja weapons and techniques, and he eventually takes the fight to the Iga Ninja Clan's elaborate cave headquarters on an island near Hong Kong, where he engages in a frenzied sword fight with attacking black-clad ninjas and finally takes on the clan leader in an intense one-on-one kung fu bout. There are flashbacks to Chow's own ninja training as a youth with a Japanese teacher who was slain by the Iga ninja chief.
There's a PSYCHO-style shower murder early in the film in which a ninja stabs a woman with a stiletto made of ice. Under the opening credits, there are scenes of female mud wrestling and other questionable "training" techniques, in addition to brief scenes of female nudity later in the film. The more outlandish ninja fight scenes are provided by a prominent wrestler in the cast named Wong Kin Mi, who plays one of the ninja killers. He has one crazy scene where he takes on a carful of men (and their car!) in an underground parking garage. He later engages in a grueling fight with the hero, who, while doing many of his own stunts, may have taken some real punishment.
The plot moves well, the ninja scenes are imaginatively staged and the actors take it all seriously. The big revelation for me among the cast members was Elsa Yeung Wai San, who plays Sun Chi Mei and creates quite an interesting and attractive character. We first meet her when she enters Chow's fencing school clad in red cloak, white blouse and tight black leather pants and challenges him to a sword fight to see if he's good enough to teach her. Later, she has a fight in a bar with a group of rowdy men trying to grope her drunken sister. She's good enough to make us wish she were in more fight scenes. Chen Kuan Tai, in his post-Shaw period, plays Chow as a handsome leading man, a confident hero with a romantic touch, mellower and more mature than he was in his fiercer Shaw roles. He even has a (fully-clothed) love scene with the lead actress.
Yasuaki Kurata, a Japanese actor active in Hong Kong films since 1971, and a favorite of many kung fu fans, plays the elusive ninja leader who fights Chow at the end. Chen Hung Lieh, a regular in Shaw Bros. costume adventures in the 1960s and early '70s (he was Jade-Faced Assassin in COME DRINK WITH ME), plays the short-fused businessman who hires Chow to protect him from the ninjas. Tin Man Chung plays the persistent police captain who investigates the murders and accepts Chow as an ally. I have been unable to identify the actress who plays the female ninja, but she's quite effective.
Taiwan-based director Lee Tso Nam also made such exemplary old-school kung fu films as THE HOT, THE COOL AND THE VICIOUS, EAGLE'S CLAW, FATAL NEEDLES FATAL FIST, CHALLENGE OF DEATH and GREEN JADE STATUETTE.