My Cultural Diet

For a movie called Ninja Thunderbolt, there’s a shocking dearth of ninja action here. Sure, there’s the opening sequence involving members of the evil Ninja Empire — Godfrey Ho was really taken with the idea of ninja empires (not that I blame him) — swearing their villainous vows, and there’s some ninja thievery, but most of the film follows the exploits of a headstrong detective and a kung fu insurance agent trying to stop an evil tycoon from committing insurance fraud, or something like that. Given that a third of the movie takes place in dark rooms or at night with the actors barely recognizable smudges, though, there’s probably a lot that I missed. I had high hopes for Ninja Thunderbolt given that it stars martial arts cinema icon Yasuaki Kurata, but that’s only because Ho apparently purchased the rights to Gam Ming’s To Catch a Thief, and as was his wont, sprinkled in a few shots of Richard Harrison to create an “original” ninja film. Ninja Thunderbolt’s not without charm; I couldn’t stop smiling as a gang of roller-skating ninjas chased the detective in his itsy-bitsy Mitsuoka BUBU 501 micro car, and the soundtrack features music from Barry White, Chris & Cosey, Logic System, Bill Wyman, and Lalo Schifrin’s Dirty Harry score (all legally licensed, I’m sure). As far as Godfrey Ho films go, though, this one ranks pretty low on the scale, which is saying something.

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