Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Robot Ninja (1989)

How bad is it? It's cheapness is almost breathtaking.
Should you see it? Maybe. If you don't mind gore and slapdash filmmaking.

This was director J. R. Bookwalter's second film; his films have developed a cult following with people generally saying, "that could've been a good film, if there'd been a bigger budget," but it's the intentional cheapness that's the charm. The movie starts with a robot ninja in an action scene, but it turns out to be a campy TV show. A guy's upset that his favorite comic book hero has been co-opted, so he decides to become the character in real life. Unfortunately, he's no ninja nor robot - he's not really equipped in any way to fight crime. And he gets his butt kicked by the local gang repeatedly (the gang has five members, none threatening, with a tiny female leader), before finally triumphing. Burt Ward and Linnea Quigley have roles. I liked the laboratory in the basement best, for some reason.

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