Okay, got through all 8 of Ichikawa Raizos Ninja Band of Assassins series and yes, there was a comment about number 8 (The Three Enemies) being similar to Nevada Smith and I agree. Whats interesting to me is # 8 and #1 have the same lead actor and antagonist, as different characters, and both movies end with Raizo running off yelling out his leading ladys name ! (Maki! in the first movie and Akane! in the 8th film.) :-) I think 1 through 3 are the deeper films (as well as 5 which has statements about religion and politics, which is cool since in mixed company those two subjects are things we try to avoid!), but number 8, for me personally, is probably the more fun film (might be my personal bias, since Im also a Hong Kong kung fu movie fan.) The only complaint I have about number 8 is the jump cuts director (Ikehiro?) or the film editor (I dont remember who that was) uses when inserting the stunt double with Ichikawa-san. Nothing wrong with using a double, since after all, Bruce Lee had to use a double for the acrobatic scenes in Enter The Dragon (he wasnt a gymnast), but disguising it better rather than jump cutting would have made it less obvious in The Three Enemies, especially during Raizos training scenes when his character is attempting to do a back tuck or back handspring as a defense against sword cuts . (By the way, I wouldnt recommend a gymnastics floor trick against an attack in real life, but thats why we enjoy movies, to see things we dont or cant witness in real life!) Okay, The Three Enemies is still a fine ninja flick and for me personally, much more enjoyable than any turtle or 80s super-ninja film. (Just my opinion.) ;-)
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 04:17:21 +0000
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