In France, a diplomat exits an embassy and gets in his car. He has hardly departed through the gate when a pair of assassins kill him and most of his entourage. One of the assassins was killed.
In the USA, Scott James (Chuck Norris), his pal AJ (Art Hindle), and AJ's girlfriend attended a dance performance. Both Scott and AJ looked admiringly on the lead dancer, Nancy (Kim Langford). Scott asked her out. At dinner, Scott talked about Nancy's dance style, which incorporated martial arts; Scott is a martial arts champion who has retired from fighting. Nancy explained that her brother was into martial arts. Oddly, she asked about the assassination in France. Scott took Nancy to her house and stepped into a ninja assault. Ninjas had killed Nancy's family and killed her almost as soon as she entered the house. Scott fought and defeated them. Afterwards, he thought it was impossible. The ninja were gone. There were only two people who could train ninja: him and his brother!
Flashback: Scott (played by Mike Norris - Chuck's son) and Seikura were raised by Isawa (John Fujioka) and trained as ninjas. Though one was Japanese and the other American, they were raised as brothers.
McCarn (Lee Van Cleef) called upon Scott and brought up the ninja issue. McCarn was something of a private contractor in the field of killing terrorists. Could Scott lend a hand? Scott declined.
Despite his insistence that his brother could not be training ninja terrorists, the evidence repeatedly indicated otherwise. Would he have to fight his brother? First, he would have to locate the secret training camp rumored to be somewhere in Central America.
In the third act, Scott entered the octagon, a building that served as the training center for the ninjas. Of course, Scott proved adept in overcoming it. One of his best fights on film took place, where he fought Kyo (Richard Norton - a Karate black belt and friend of Norris) the ninja enforcer.
This movie began the ninja craze of the 1980s. The following year, Sho Kosugi began his string of ninja movies: Enter the Ninja (1981), Revenge of the Ninja (1983), Ninja III: The Domination (1984), and the hilariously campy Nine Deaths of the Ninja (1985). He also starred as the villain in the TV series, The Master (1984), which starred none other than Lee Van Cleef as the titular master. In 1985, Michael Dudikoff took up the ninja mantle in American Ninja (1985). Amazingly, he was raised by a Japanese ninja played by John Fujioka! How many young Americans did he train in Ninjutsu? Dudikoff returned in American Ninja 2 (1987).
There is more story than required. There is also a vast array of characters for an action film. As far as ninja, these are not the best. These guys just wear black clothes, not the particular gear that would become a staple of later movies. Then again, a lot of these 'ninja' are just terrorists from around the world who attended a training camp for a month. Hardly ninjas.
The weakest part of the movie is Scott thinking. While Chuck Norris has a pensive look, his voice echoes his thoughts. The movie would improve greatly without the echoing voice over.
Good popcorn fun and recommended.
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