Scene of the Week: Playground Smackdown!
In the world of ninja movies, it is one of the best. In the world of Shô Kosugi movies, it is the best. 1983’s Revenge of the Ninja is also one of the rare times where a sequel surpassed the original in every way.
What made this movie superior to Enter the Ninja, the first film in Cannon’s Ninja trilogy? The fact that Shô Kosugi was “promoted” from the bad guy to the movie’s hero in Revenge of the Ninja was a huge factor. We had a legit martial artist playing a ninja, not Franco Nero. And while Kosugi is nowhere near the actor that Nero is, this movie did not require a great deal of acting skills but it sure as hell required some major ninja skills.
And Kosugi isn’t the only one with martial arts skills. We can’t forget his sidekick in the film, Dave Hatcher. Hatcher was played by Keith Vitali another skilled martial who at least at one point was going to be the actual star of Revenge of the Ninja and not just a supporting player. Throw in a young Kane Kosugi, who proved you can kick ass at any age and classic movie henchman Professor Toru Tanaka and it becomes easy to see why this movie left the original in the dust.
Another big plus for Revenge of the Ninja was the directing of Sam Firstenberg, who took to the action genre like a fish to water. Plus there was the highly skilled Steven Lambert in the stunt coordinator role. Both Sam and Steven shared their behind the scenes insights on the Blu-ray release of Revenge of the Ninja, which I highly recommend adding to your collection. I also recommend reading my 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Revenge of the Ninja post, inspired by the commentary on the Blu-ray.
In this week’s Scene of the Week we will see Shô Kosugi and Keith Vitali battle some playground tough guys. Pay special attention to the cowboy in the scene, that is none other than stunt coordinator Steven Lambert…
