Ninja Over The Great Wall as it's titled in English, is a pretty entertaining loose remake of Bruce Lee's Fist Of Fury on a shoestring budget. Personally, I thought it was more entertaining despite the fact that Bruce Le hasn't the fighting skill or the charisma of Bruce Lee.
It takes place in the early nineteen-thirties when China was occupied by the Japanese imperial forces, a period of time that weighs heavily even today on the Chinese psyche.
Bruce Le directs himself as a peasant who escaped the mass murder of his village by the Japanese. He joins his master in Bejing shortly before the old man's assassination by ninjas.
The Japanese are portrayed as brutal oppressors who've abandoned the code of the warrior, with the exception of one Bushido master who's taken it upon himself to singularly represent his country in the way of honor.
The bloody, brutal climax was shot on location atop the Great Wall Of China and is quite exciting and worthwhile despite some corny animation depicting bone crunching and blood dripping. The movie ends with a salute to Chinese nationalism.
This movie's economical at eighty-one minutes, action packed, and doesn't waste too much time on boring subplots or stupid comic relief characters, which is quite refreshing if you've had to wade through a lot of dreck to find some really good martial arts movies. Unjustly obscure, I think this is overdue for rediscovery.
Watch the English version all the way to the end. The theme-song is credited to someone named "Fung Kin S--t"! Is that a real guy?!
It takes place in the early nineteen-thirties when China was occupied by the Japanese imperial forces, a period of time that weighs heavily even today on the Chinese psyche.
Bruce Le directs himself as a peasant who escaped the mass murder of his village by the Japanese. He joins his master in Bejing shortly before the old man's assassination by ninjas.
The Japanese are portrayed as brutal oppressors who've abandoned the code of the warrior, with the exception of one Bushido master who's taken it upon himself to singularly represent his country in the way of honor.
The bloody, brutal climax was shot on location atop the Great Wall Of China and is quite exciting and worthwhile despite some corny animation depicting bone crunching and blood dripping. The movie ends with a salute to Chinese nationalism.
This movie's economical at eighty-one minutes, action packed, and doesn't waste too much time on boring subplots or stupid comic relief characters, which is quite refreshing if you've had to wade through a lot of dreck to find some really good martial arts movies. Unjustly obscure, I think this is overdue for rediscovery.
Watch the English version all the way to the end. The theme-song is credited to someone named "Fung Kin S--t"! Is that a real guy?!