''Ninja in the Dragon's Den'' () is a 1982 Hong Kong

martial arts film Martial arts films are a subgenre of action films that feature martial arts combat between characters. These combats are usually the films' primary appeal and entertainment value, and often are a method of storytelling and character expression a ...

directed by

Corey Yuen Corey Yuen Kwai (; 15 February 1951 – 2022) was a Hong Kong film director, film producer, action choreographer, and actor. Yuen attended the China Drama Academy and was one of the Seven Little Fortunes. In Hong Kong, he worked on several ...

in his feature film directorial debut, and written by Yuen and Ng See-yuen. It stars Conan Lee,

Hiroyuki Sanada Hiroyuki Sanada (; ; born 12 October 1960) is a Japanese actor. He has received numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a British Academy Television Award, a Japan Academy Film Prize, two Hochi Film Award ...

and

Hwang Jang-lee Hwang Jang-lee (; born 21 December 1944) is a South Korean martial artist and actor best known for his Hong Kong martial arts films. He is a ninth- dan grandmaster in Tang Soo Do and Taekwondo who began training in 1957. Prior to his acting care ...

. The film was released theatrically in Hong Kong on 24 June 1982.

Plot

In Japan of the

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

period, a young

ninja A , or was a spy and infiltrator in pre-modern Japan. The functions of a ninja included siege and infiltration, ambush, reconnaissance, espionage, deception, and later bodyguarding.Kawakami, pp. 21–22 Antecedents may have existed as ear ...

named Genbu wantonly kills samurai and other government officials, leaving his clan to face the blame. When they hunt him down, Genbu and his wife Akane sail to China both to escape their wrathful kinsmen and for Genbu to complete his revenge by finding the last man he holds responsible for his father's death. That man, Fukusa, leads a peaceful life as a mirror maker under the name of Uncle Fu. He has a young protégé, Sun Jing, a smug martial artist who constantly tries to prove himself by taking up every opportunity to fight. Jing also constantly teases his lecherous servant Chee and takes few things very seriously. When he sees his surrogate father attacked, Jing immediately rushes to his aid, but after several clashes he finds out that he and the ninja are evenly matched. It is revealed that Genbu's father was not killed by his clan members; he instead died as a hero in a rebellion years ago. Ashamed of his own cowardice in escaping to China following that attempted uprising, Fu makes peace with Genbu. But before their final encounter, Fu took poison to restore his honor by his own death. Fu asks Genbu to kill him in order to spare him the last agony, which promptly leads to a misunderstanding between Genbu and Jing. The two battle each other to the top of Jing's family temple and eventually settle their differences just in time to face The Magician, a spiritual boxer whose son Jing has insulted in the course of the movie. The film ends with Jing and Genbu killing the Magician, with some unwitting assistance from Akane and Chee. The latter promptly tempts fate by claiming the better part of the credit for this victory, prompting Genbu and Jing to teach him a lesson.

Cast

Reception

In December 2019, the film holds a ''

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

'' rating of 76% based on 277 reviews. Reviews specifically praise the film's dynamics, its unusual story, and its theme song.''Illuminated Lantern'': "Ninja in the Dragon's Den"
(retrieved 15 December 2019).

DVD release

On 25 March 2002, DVD was released by

Hong Kong Legends Hong Kong Legends was a United Kingdom DVD distribution company, based in Hertfordshire and operating from the UK and Australia between 1999 and 2007. Hong Kong Legends was initially part of Medusa Communications, who, along with Soulblade bough ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in Region 2.

References

External links