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Reviews
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Views
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Date of last review
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1
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1852
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Tue July 19, 2005
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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Average Rating
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100% of reviewers
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$10.99
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3.0
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Author
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Sammygirl
Moderator
Registered: April 2004
Location: Boston
Posts: 5882
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Review Date: Tue July 19, 2005
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $10.99
| Rating: 3
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Pros:
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cheesy fu-flick holds up better under influence of alcohol
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Cons:
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DVD quality not great
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If I owned a kung-fu video store like the one above the jewelry mall in Boston\'s Downtown Crossing, or if I ran a kung fu movie-themed disco, I would definitely have \"Ninja Empire\" playing on one of the background screens. But just one. I\'d have to offset it with 2 or more screens playing far better-produced, better-preserved kung fu classics. Because the cheese factor is quite high in this film, and while that can be fun, a little goes a long way. Besides, the washed-out transfer and less-than-ideal quality of the DVD itself make this hard on the eyes.
The film itself is evenly paced, with a character-driven plot and decent action. Jeff Houston plays a special forces ninja-type guy who is put in prison for ... something, I\'m not clear on what. At any rate \"the feds\" ask him to break up a ring of gangsters and evil ninjas in Hong Kong. Jeff says yes, then goes away for about 45 minutes while a heck of a lot of nothing happens, although you do get to see one ninja, played by a pudgy westerner in a white ninja outfit. There is also a group of rickshaw drivers with empty pockets, big dreams, and nowhere to go but up. Fortunately, they do not break into song.
Ninja Empire is certainly not a classic, but it\'s a decent addition to your kung-fu library, especially since it\'ll only set you back about 50 cents when you purchase Mill Creek\'s 20-DVD set. In fact, I think you can only get this movie as part of a several-DVD set from any distributor, which makes it sort of a (dubiously) rare piece.
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