Ninja III: The Domination

Ninja III: The Domination is energetic, sometimes priceless popcorn fodder from those reliable folk at the Cannon Group, producers and distributors of so many irresistible B movies of the 1980s. An in-name-only sequel to "Enter the Ninja" and "Revenge of the Ninja" (all the three movies really have in common is star Sho Kosugi) with its own stand alone story, it functions as a martial arts / "Exorcist" mash-up as an evil "black ninja" assassin (David Chung) slaughters some people on a golf course and then leads the police on a chase. Eventually, he's pumped full of bullets, but he has enough life left in him to stumble his way to a young woman, Christie (Lucinda Dickey of the "Breakin'" movies) and then transfer his spirit to her body. He then periodically takes control of her in order to avenge himself on the cops who shot him, while a good ninja (Mr. Kosugi) is sent from Japan to take care of the situation.

Director Sam Firstenberg, a regular in Cannon Group productions (his other credits including "American Ninja" and "Avenging Force"), really seems to be having fun with the melding of genres here, and this movie sizes up as *very* cheesy and *very* funny entertainment that scarcely takes a breath. Its opening 17 minutes surely has to rank as one of the best ever openings for a cult film. There's plenty of action to enjoy; Dickey looks great in and out of ninja costume even if she is doubled by stunt men for the majority of the action sequences. Mr. Kosugi is in extremely fine form, especially for the final showdown with the black ninja at the movies' conclusion. Jordan Bennett, as a cop who becomes Christies' love interest, is annoying for a while but he does eventually grow on you. Also among the cast is the incredibly prolific and always wonderful character actor James Hong, playing a Japanese spiritualist. The horror parts of this movie are never exactly scary, but that's part of the clunky charm of this thing, which does feature one of the oddest bits of product placement ever seen in cinema.

I remember catching this movie on one of the Showtime channels. What stood out for me is that this movie takes place entirely in Phoenix, Arizona. I'm from there so I spot the locales easily. Regardless, a ninja kills a scientist, because they wear yellow sweaters and golf, who is pursued by the police. It takes about half the police force to take him down and when they do eventually kill him, there are no discernible bullet wounds. His spirit lives on however when a woman finds her and touches his katana.

From then on, she periodically gets possessed and kills the police officers who killed the original ninja. Then another ninja from Japan comes to kill the evil ninja. This might be a plot device from the previous two films, or perhaps a plot hole. All I know is that this movie is very campy, bad and entertaining. This is something to watch with a tub of popcorn, and several friends and give it the MST3K treatment.

The stories intriguingly different in Ninja land, the action sequences spectacularly done, especially at the start, providing spectacular entertainment. An evil ninja, avenges those who have made a deadly mistake of killing him. Ninja rule, you can't outkill a ninja, only if you're a ninja. The evil ninja's spirit takes refuge in a woman's body, a hot body if that of Breakdance's Lucinda Dickey, who's angry moments are cute. She's a younger and sexier version of Mimi Rodgers. So now our hottie, who trains and works out a gym, while also working with power lines, is the "you don't mess with chick" who's killing bad guys, cops, and taking on gangs of thug. A young cop who falls for her, wanting to get into her panties, senses something weird, while really being deeply attracted to her, and to re-iterate, wanting to get into her panties. Dickey leaves a lot of her bloodshed in her wake, where it's time to call in a professional. Guess who that is. This action pic is a well staged spectacle, of "throw reality out the window" entertainment, and these ninja films always deliver hard on action, but only accept it for that ninja love. The "Body Shop" song used in other Golan Globus films, rocks too. A far fetched tale that of course will spark moments, of unintentional laughs, here's another one ninja fans like me, love.