| Made up of footage from To Catch A Thief (made in 1984 and starring Don Wong & Yusuaki Kurata) and ninja footage directed by Godfrey Ho, the re-working of the original turning into Ninja Thunderbolt is one of IFD's lesser "treasures" due to it TRYING. Although no flicks of theirs even approached good, there is a notion in my head that IFD never should've attempted real life filmmaking. They were too poor for that and surely excess, hokey behaviour and logic of the ill kind must've made for a more fruitful (money-making) commercial experience? I don't have the entire catalogue to compare but perhaps they did indeed move away from attempts at battling it out with serious filmmaking, Ninja Thunderbolt is by means boring when discussing content though, firstly talking about the quite obsessive goals of the ninja clan ("If the dead rise up against us, we'll kill them too!"). One of them is out there posing as a cop (Richard Harrison), all while a jade statue is the main objective of the plot that then concerns both flicks. At least one attempt at "clever" merging of the flicks is evident (a scene with smoke featuring Don Wong that cuts to a scene with smoke featuring Harrison) but neither filmmaker at hand really injects an asskicking factor. Whether it's for action purposes (although the Taiwan flick certainly try) or when Godfrey Ho is creating ninja magic. Colour is injected via rollerblading assassins and the final ninja fight even presents morals of the ninja clan being askew so statements are even made...badly! It deserves minute love then. |
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