Search - Ninja in the U.S.A. on DVD

The hero and the villian from 'Shaolin Vs. Lama' team up in

morgoth | omaha, NE | 10/29/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Now in the mid eighties Alexander Lo Rei was a hard working man doing probably 20 films in 4 years! During the shooting of this he was also making 'Ninja Death'(Venom Of the Ninja). When Joseph Kuo quit half way through Chiang Sheng took over on 'Ninja Death'. Well he also directed 'Ninja in the USA' which is an amazing feat to direct 2 movies simultaneously. The credits for this movie go to Wu Kuo Jen since Chiang Sheng didn't want his name being associated with this low budget of a production and same for 'Ninja Death'. He actually has a cameo in this as Lo Rei's ninja master. I was told that Wu Kuo Jen was a horrible director and you can tell the difference in the quality of storytelling with this and 'Super Ninja' which Wu Kuo Jen actually did direct. Thanks to wanchaitransient from kung fu fandom for this info!

Now the movie is decent at best but with Eugene Thomas back as one of Lo Rei's regular screen partners and my favorite kung fu actor ever-Chang Shan, this ends up being very enjoyable. The action is not quite as good overall as Lo Rei's 'Super Ninja', but it is a better movie and has a couple of great brutal matches that compete with any Lo Rei film. Look for the match in the boxing ring where he has to go up against 3 people.

So the story starts out with a guy named Tiger being released from jail after his ninja killed all of the witnesses. With no witnesses, he is out out of jail but Chang Shan(Shaolin vs. Lama) shows up as a cop and says that he is investigating this case. Next we get a plot that is beyond unbelievable where Lo Rei is getting married and right before he is about to drive off to his honeymoon, a guy who is being chased hides a film cannister in Lo Rei's things. Before Lo Rei can get some lovin from his new wife she sees this film and it is of Tiger doing bad things. It just so happens that Tiger is owed a big debt from Lo Rei and Chang Shan because he saved them in Vietnam when they were little kids so they can't just turn him in. So after a couple of bumps in the road in the story Lo Rei's girlfriend is kidnapped and he needs to go and save her. The final fight was surprisingly good and Tiger who is a muscualar white guy played by b movie actor George Nicholas has some good moves. His stunt doubling is done pretty well though the action overall just doesn't live up to most other Lo Rei films. Oh well, I can't really complain since I found another movie with my favorite guy-Chang Shan in it. Only reason that is a big deal to me is because this is only the 7th movie I have seen where he has an actual role! It isd a fun movie with action from start to finish and it even rips off 'The Octogan' quite a bit with the whole ninja camp thing at the end.

Picture quality OK. Full screened of course. You can get this as part of the Ninja 6 pack from Tai Seng. It has 4 great movies on it(and 2 duds) for the price of 2 movies."