19:34
mangaland
Jack is a husky Kung Fu brawler who befriends a shifty conman named Charlie. Together, they save a crime boss from an explosion and are welcomed into the family with open arms. When their boss is murdered by a clan of Ninjas, the duo set out to get revenge.
Mafia vs. Ninja is kinda disappointing because the “Mafia” in question isn’t a bunch of Italians in cheap suits trying to rub out a mess of Ninjas. They’re actually just your average run of the mill Triad jokers. If you can get past that bit of false advertising, you’ll probably enjoy the flick.
Still, this movie has just enough moments of random quirkiness to keep you chuckling. Take the opening scene where Jack and Charlie meet. Charlie mistakes him for the local rapist and tries to beat him up. Their initial exchange is great.
Jack: My friend, what are you doing?
Charlie: I’m going to kill you, you bastard!
It’s this kind of stuff that makes the flick mostly enjoyable. In addition, the fight scenes happen more often than not. Now these fights aren’t exactly great or anything (although I did like our heroes’ inventive use of landscaping during the final battle) but they have some moments of flat out fun (like when Jack kicks a sword that goes flying into a fat guy with a Hitler moustache’s stomach). There’s also a pretty funny Ninja training sequence that involves dozens of apples being hurled through the air at guys in black pajamas.
Mafia vs. Ninja never really reaches the inspired lunacy of a Dragon Lives Again or a Scorpion Thunderbolt, but it’s just goofy enough to make it stand out from the zillions of other Kung Fu flicks out there. Like most of these bizarre little slices of nonsense, it steals music from other movies (in this case, Tron and Psycho) and has atrocious dubbing. If y’all like shit like that, you’ll have fun with this one.
