Rarely is the third movie in a series the best of the batch. The Hangover Part III and The Godfather Part III can attest to that fact. Ninja III: The Domination goes against the status quo. Not only is the best of the series, it might be the greatest ninja movie ever made. It definitely is the greatest ninja movie you can watch with friends. How can such a claim be justified? Do you know of any other film about an aerobics instructor who gets possessed by the spirit of an evil ninja that wants her to revenge his death? Even better is the aerobics instructor turns out to be Lucinda Dickey from Breakin’ and Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo. Viewers who haven’t seen Enter the Ninja and Revenge of the Ninja won’t be lost or left out. The only thing the trio of Ninja films have in common is star Shô Kosugi. He doesn’t play the same character. Ninja III: The Domination is an all new movie spliced with as much as major ninja action to go along with its unintentional WTF comic moments.
The movie enters with action. A very important person arrives at a golf course with a bevy of security guards. Also arriving for a tee time is a ninja loaded up with weapons. It doesn’t take too long for the mysterious ninja to find his target. The brilliance of this scene is that we have no real idea who the golfer or the ninja really are. Who is really good and bad? Why does the ninja want the golfer dead? What matters is that the cops also arrive for an all out chase against a single ninja that won’t back down. He even goes after a police helicopter. When the cops finally have him surrounded and shot up, the supernatural ninja has one last trick. He escapes them and finds Christie working on a telephone pole. He locks eyes with her and doesn’t just give her his sword. He gets inside her head. Also wanting to get inside Christie is Officer Billy Secord (Jordan Bennett). He’s ready to strip down for her. Although when he removes his uniform, it looks like he’s wearing a sweater. Before anything can happen, Christie teaches her aerobics class at the gym. Officer Secord drops by to sweat with the ladies. This is comedy gold that just gets richer. After the class, the bodybuilders attempt to get rough with a student. Christie steps in and does gymkata moves on the muscleheads. What makes this WTF comedy is that Officer Secord quietly watches the fight. He doesn’t want to flash his badge and take control.
The evil ninja takes over Christie’s mind. He gets her to dress in his old ninja garb to kill the cops that eliminated him at the golf course. Officer Secord was one of the cops so this will affect their blossoming relationship. Eventually she’s taken to see an Asian exorcist (Kung Fu Panda‘s James Hong). This just goes blissfully overboard as Christie gets wild hair as the Evil Ninja appears in her face. What can be done to free her before she kills everyone? The only hope seems to rest in the arrival of Yamada (Shô Kosugi). He’s the good ninja hunting down the evil ninja. But can he deal with a aerobics instructor with fierce ninja skills?
For those wondering what happened to Lucinda, she married Craig Pilligian, her co-star in Cheerleader Camp. Craig became a major reality show producer on shows such as Survivor, Top Shot and Only In America with Larry the Cable Guy. Lucinda retired from the acting game to focus on being a wife and mom. Although she did appear on as a judge on TLC’s Master of Dance which was produced by her husband. As far as acting in movies; What did she have to prove after an amazing legacy that started with Ninja III: The Domination?
The video is 1.78.1 anamorphic. The details of the aerobics studio and Christie’s apartment will dazzle the eyes. Audio is DTS-HD Master Audio Stereo. This mix brings out the cheesy ’90s synth score from Udi Harpaz and Misha Segal.
Includes a DVD which has all the features of the Blu-ray.
Audio Commentary has director Sam Firstenberg and stunt coordinator Steven Lambert break down the action. Steven is hilarious breaking down the massive stunt scenes since he plays so many roles in them. He kills himself a couple times during the opening golf course battle. Sam clears up the timeline that Lucinda Dickey went from Ninja III to Breakin’. The breakdance epic came out Ninja III. Sam and Lucinda reunited for Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo.
Photo Gallery are posters and production stills from the film.
Ninja III: The Domination is the best of all the Ninja Films Cannon Films released. Lucinda Dickey shines as the possessed aerobics instructor. The film is an brilliant unintentional comedy that needs to be watched with a group of people eager for ’80s action fun.
Scream Factory presents Ninja III: The Domination. Directed by Sam Firstenberg. Starring:Lucinda Dickey, Jordan Bennett, Shô Kosugi and James Hong. Running Time: 93 minutes. Released: June 11, 2013. Available at Amazon.com.
