Ninja: The Final Duel: Technical Notes

Technical Notes Technical Notes:
Ninja: The Final Duel
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    by SM46710

As for the DVD technical issues, well... we all know that the small independent companies have a lot of difficulties finding good prints of these films. Heck, even the original "Drunken Master" was deteriorating in some Hong Kong vault, and we're talking Jackie Chan! But "Ninja: The Final Duel" doesn't suck. The image is soft and lacking in detail, there are speckles and dropouts here and there, and the colors are not vivid neither faded; but in toto, it's as watchable as a good VHS dupe. The only problem is a couple of night scenes, so dark and muddy that what's happening there is anybody's guess. Extras include an amusing trailer, and fans of bad dubbing will have a field day listening to Shaolin Monks saying things like "they'll get the shit beaten out of them" or the famous Black Monk quote: "You're a mean dude. But she's ash, so don't give me this trash."



    by Opus Zine
    www.opuszine.com

The DVD is about as bare as it gets; chapter access and a trailer. The video quality is about as good as you can expect, considering the age of the film and the fact that many older kung fu movies just didn't seem to keep well over the years. There's some pretty noticeable flaws, especially a large crease that runs right through the middle of screen at times. However, when you consider the relative insanity of the movie itself, it's fairly easy to overlook defects like that. Also, the movie is not truly letterboxed, contrary to the details on the packaging. There's a thin black bar than runs across the top of the movie, and that's about it.



    by So Good... - Hong Kong DVD Movie Reviews
    www.sogoodreviews.com



Rumour has it that the original cut of this movie ran 8 hours and while that would certainly explain why the movie is as messy as it is, Sergio Martorelli's review at Monsters At Play explains once and for all why it ran 8 hours:

'This little epic had three sequels, ALL named "Ninja: The Final Duel" by overseas distributors on dope. It's hard to keep track of 'em all (the IMDb is never reliable when it comes to asian stuff), and bootleggers used to put all three on one single tape and call it simply "Ninja: The Final Duel", giving rise to the 8-hour production assumption. Versions on TV and home video have bits and pieces of each film mixed in, but this DVD release by Crash Cinema is actually the second volume of the "Ninja" series in its entirety.'

Crash Cinema claims widescreen on the dvd box cover but all we see is a tiny black border on top of the picture that is shifting slightly up and down throghout the movie. Maybe the aspect ratio adds up to something like 1.5:1. but all the fights can be enjoyed though and very little cropping is evident.

It's a poor looking dvd that is clearly taken from a worn VHS print of the movie. Colours are weak, it's soft, lack detail and has print damage throughout. Also one scene that takes place at night is unwatchable due to being very dark. Having said all that it's ok to watch and we're probably not going to see this remastered anytime soon.

The mono english dub sounds adequate and dialogue is intelligible at all times. The only extra is an english language trailer.




    by Kung Fu Cinema
    www.KungFuCinema.com

TECH NOTES:
89 min. This print is not in full letterbox format. A thin black border appears on the left and the whole image shifts up or down slightly throughout the film. Colors and clarity are moderate while a few bits of speckling and film degradation can be seen at times. Overall, a decent print. The available audio track is adequate. Extras include a chapter index and a film trailer.
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