Bullet Points: Challenge the Ninja
It’s that time once again to enter the wonderful world of Godfrey Ho! More specifically one of Mr. Ho’s numerous contributions to the ninja genre.
This time out I turn my attention to 1986’s Challenge the Ninja…
- Ooooh Billy Billy Billy: When the Red Devil and his crew (that includes The Black Ninjas) aren’t stealing jewels, they are plotting to kidnap Billy de Guzman. Billy is the son of a rich and powerful man who is looking to become a senator. Kidnapping Billy would be an easy way to collect a hefty ransom. The first kidnapping attempt ends badly for everyone involved… the Red Devil’s biker gang division, The Avenians Riders, follow Billy when they spot him riding his motorbike and begin to give chase. The chase ends just outside the city limits and Billy finds himself forced off his bike and being circled by the gang… but Billy is tough, he is knocking guys off their bikes and kicking their asses despite the odds being against him. When the biker ring leader tries to get away, Billy is right on top of the situation, figuratively and literally… a cop eventually spots Billy on top of the biker, raining down with blows. Billy is arrested for street fighting and the bikers don’t accomplish their goal.
- Enter the Ninja Cop: At this point we are introduced to Mark (Bruce Baron, Dragon Force), a cop who is also a ninja. Mark has been investigating The Red Devil and believes that the Black Ninjas report to The Red Devil and that The Red Devil reports to a higher power… oddly enough Mark’s police captain doesn’t seem all that interested in Mark’s theory (this will become obvious later), but he does sign the release for Billy de Guzman, per Mark’s request. Mark believes Billy can help with the Red Devil investigation. Now logic would say, we will now get a Mark and Billy team up movie… but after Billy is released, Billy’s family comes to pick him up at the police station. On their way home to Casa de Guzman, Billy’s parents express their disappointment in Billy street fighting. When Billy tries to explain himself his dad doesn’t want to listen and his mom tells Billy that they’ll hire him a good lawyer. And that’s about the time the Black Ninjas show up… Billy jumps out of the car and starts fighting off the ninjas. But this time not only is Billy outnumbered, he is also outclassed. The ninjas knock Billy out and when he comes to, he sees that his family has been murdered. So I guess The Red Devil no longer needed ransom money!?!?
- Team Up Time?: After the murders, Mark pays Billy a visit… this is surely where they’ll team up. Right? No, Mark tells Billy that he will handle everything and that Billy should stay cool. Billy isn’t listening and vows revenge on the bastards that killed his family. So when Mark leaves, Billy heads out to the woods in search of a martial arts master that can train him to defeat ninjas. It is out in the woods where Billy meets a family that takes him in after Billy gets caught in a trap and where Billy also meets his teacher, the Silver Falcon (who we will eventually learn was the original leader of the Black Ninjas)… Elsewhere Mark is having car trouble, when a Black Ninja sneaks up on him. This is where we get to see Mark magically transform into the Camouflage Ninja and kick some ass… We then return to Billy’s training with Silver Falcon.
- Bad News Travels Fast: When The Red Devil and The Black Ninjas learn that Billy is training with the Silver Falcon, it puts the family that was good enough to take Billy in at great risk. Billy isn’t there to stop it since he is back in the city having another fruitless conversation with Mark. Mark talks down to Billy telling Billy he isn’t Rambo or Bruce Lee, which is interesting because HKMD noted that the actor that portrayed Billy, Rey Malonzo, was considered the “Bruce Lee of the Philippines”. When Billy returns to the woods after his meeting with Mark, Billy finds out that his teacher, the Silver Falcon, has been killed and that Maggie (the matriarch of the family) and her young son, Tommy, have been kidnapped by The Black Ninjas. Now Billy has to put his newly acquired skills to the test, battling the likes of The Black Ninjas, The Red Devil and a giant of a man that was apparently on The Red Devil’s payroll that we are just now being introduced to. It was at this point in the movie that I thought, shouldn’t Mark be here helping Billy? That’s when we see Mark the Camouflage Ninja Cop doing battle the higher power that turned out to be Mark’s police captain boss?!!?!?
It is almost like Challenge the Ninja was two different movies that were jammed together via the sorcery of Godfrey Ho… like they say if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.
Challenge the Ninja was not a challenging watch. The Billy de Guzman story was the heart of the film with the Mark segments providing more of the ninja content… including shuriken, so I didn’t mind the Billy story being interrupted from time to time.
Now I challenge you to read these Bonus Bullet Points…
- Soundtraxx: At one point I thought I heard some leftover music from the classic 80s series, The Equalizer, and for good reason. The song that I heard was actually “Coco” by Stewart Copeland, who was also the composer for The Equalizer.
- Bastard Count: There were at least a half dozen “bastards” uttered in Challenge the Ninja.
- AKA: Challenge the Ninja is also known as Ultimate Ninja Challenge.
- Favorite Insult: The Red Devil refers to Mark the Ninja Cop as “one big shithead”.
- If You Ever: …wanted to see a ninja use The Force to move a stick in order to trip another ninja, then Challenge the Ninja is the movie for you.
- Customers Also Read: Looking for more ninja content? Check out our Ninja Collection! #CheapPlug
