Fingers crossed that the new commentary mentions the score!
Has it been confirmed that it is in fact a
new commentary? Really hope so.
The decision to stage the final sword fight sequence in the watery pond garden. Why on earth did the black star ninja decide this as his stage of battle? Aesthetically it comes accross as absolutely brilliant on the camera, with the water splashing in between the sword strikes and blocks. I'm guessing this was choreographer Steve Lamberts idea, considering that on the Blu-Ray commentery he discusses the staging of many of these battle sequences. He doesn't address this particular one on the commentery though, and why the setting for the final battle was staged in water, but it's just another brilliant nuance that sets this film in a league of it own.
I have no doubt that Steve Lambert would claim it was his idea if you asked him.
Anyway, not to burst your bubble, but there really wasn't anything new, brilliant, or genius about it. This sword fight in water had already been done (and much more impressively) during the opening sequence of Cannon's very own first ninja film, "Enter the Ninja" four years earlier. The black ninja Hasegawa (Sho Kosugi) and the white ninja Cole (doubled by Mike Stone) square off in water amdist a waterfall. Water splashing, swords crossing, it's all there. Mike Stone was the fight choreographer on the film and was also the true fight choreographer of American Ninja (not Steve Lambert as he himself falsely and boastfully claims), so this was simply Stone redoing something they'd done before in the previous ninja film he'd worked on for Cannon.
Truth be told "American Ninja" is in many ways a hodge-podge of re-used stuff, ideas, and music from Cannon's Ninja Trilogy (Enter the Ninja, Revenge of the Ninja, Ninja III: The Domination), The Octagon, and The Master TV series... Don't get me wrong, that's not a putdown. It's actually a big part of why I like the film, particularly the fact that it still had some of the same sound and style of Cannon's Ninja Trilogy. The same cannot be said of the ultra-silly cartoony sequels.
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