MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *sociological* On IMDB I saw a number of reviews asserting that they found this Taiwanese ninja-flick "so bad it was good." All I can say is that SAKURA KILLERS didn't tickle my funnybone. Yes, it's an incompetent, low-budget movie with two charisma-free leads, and you see a lot of low-level ninja-tricks, one of which had a black-clad "Sakura killer" writhing on the ground like an earthworm. But the only slight asset of this pedestrian effort is that the fighting, while not noteworthy, is at least reasonably constant.
The Plot: black-clad ninjas, working for a Japanese crime ring named "Sakura," steal a videotape with a scientific secret on it. To protect freedom and democracy, a guy called the Colonel (Chuck Connors) calls upon two of his--agents? Allies? Guys he met in a bar? Whatever the standing of Sonny (Mike Kelly) and Dennis (George Nichols), in no time they're off to Japan (for which Taiwan is a stand-in) to find the criminal ninjas. But even though both guys have some martial training, they're also encouraged to find a master and train as ninjas, since it takes a ninja to beat a ninja. I don't know why, though. The very first time the guys ask a waitress about the Sakura organization, she sets a bunch of ninjas on their tails, and Sonny and Dennis beat the masked men handily.
Nevertheless, with equal ease the two goofs stumble across a ninja master and his cute daughter, and he puts them through some mild rigors. The result is that not only do Sonny and Dennis master all the ninja devices, they can quick-change into ninja costumes in the blink of an eye, with demon-masks covering their faces. Moreover, both the old man and his daughter help the guys fight their enemies, so they've really got it easy. KILLERS is barely an adequate time-killer, but it boasts two curiosities. One is that according to IMDB, American director Dusty Nelson recycled elements of this movie into the same-year WHITE PHANTOM, though none of those elements included Sonny or Dennis. The other slight distinction is that although Chuck Connors' scenes in the film only add up to about ten minutes, he gets the only decent scene when he blows away a couple of ninjas with a shotgun-- though of course a repeating rifle would have been more appropriate.
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