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IFD has so many Taiwanese movies in their library. In truth, IFD seems to have been compelled to grapple with the actuality that there were not only action dramas to be fused into their own ninja action-footage, but also dramas such as these. Although they seem like an ill fit, these hybrids create some of the finest, strangest productions, with Ho’s Ninja Commandments leading the pack and The Protector being another fine example of Taiwanese action cinema. In contrast, the Taiwanese footage seems to do its job without too much attention.
Richard (Richard Harrison) is in charge of a special unit that is sent out to capture the culprits behind a money forgery scheme that is run by a ninja called Bruce (David Bowles), under the guise of a modeling agency. Warren (Wa Lun from the original) has already been sent undercover, but he gets too close to the wrong people in the organization and begins to lose his girlfriend and his brother David (Lee Miu-Chan). With every passing day, Richard, who happens to be a ninja, captures more of the henchmen and the final confrontation with Bruce begins to get closer…
In this first segment of the series, it clearly can be divided into two sections. The first covering the high level cut-ups with the insane story about a Ninja George W. Bush that fascinates me. Let’s be honest; there are so many issues with these cuts. They are divided into so many pieces that they begin to lack focus. That’s the main issue here. Where is the resolution? Like an Apollo 13 type of scenario, if a Ninja Bush is the centerpiece, we are looking at a massive opportunity being wasted for a first impression. When he’s aimed at and missed, there is someone who clearly believed in this. Or at least that’s what we are led to believe. When planned in that way, the intention behind it was intriguing. The cuts themselves are undeniably disorganized, and putting my focus on the shininess is an unreal expectation.
It is quite obvious that there is no rhythm present in the footage from Taiwan, which has certainly nothing to do with ninjas, and most likely did not include forgery either (IFD dubs in death footage, but it draws no reaction as it would in the older footage, making this a patched in story trope). IFD’s re-edit and new dubs show a far more bland side of Taiwan drama. The film in itself is a darker drama by design, but IFD’s rewatch vides of it with the commentaries as to how this is flat comically places the man as a more capable villain. Imagine Deadly Darling, but with zero emotional in vestment as made in Taiwan. It is grim.
But such few ninja snippets that Godfrey Ho chose to incorporate into Ninja The Protector are handled with care with respect to the portions in which he does not include ninja action, and are they not awful similar in concept as well (Try and locate the camera guy doing his rounds while Richard Harrison gears up for there 1-2 minute boxing match). For instance, the acrobatics and weapon exchanges are done to what is equal to rather good choreography. They try to strive towards providing some gentle comedic relief alongside the narrative depictions with Clifford Alan and Andy Choosy as they capture the thugs Richard gets assigned to kill for them, and it adds some more humorous undertones to the movie (which includes the conversation ‘What’s a ninja? Oh, there is non’). It is evident that the production team of IFD did try to be very formulaic as one would expect but in the middle of assembling a factory that facilitated the effortless generation of amusing, poor quality films. Most importantly, there is the part in the finale where they fight each other while riding motorcycles, so I guess it makes sense. Ninjutsu after all.
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