Tongan Ninja
Picture: C+
Sound: B- Extras: C+ Main Program: C+
In one of the recent films that has made a rise in New
Zealand film production possible, Jason Stutter’s Tongan Ninja (2002)
combines spoofing latter-day martial arts films with any pop culture it can
throw in, even if it is a very belated send-up of the New Wave band M’s video
for Pop Music as a song called “chop suey” with its own
choreography. Despite characters called
Gun Man, Knife Man and Action Fighter, this is no Kentucky Fried Movie
or Loose Shoes.
What there is of a narrative takes whatever shots at the
genre it can, but the genre was so played out by 2002 that this as late as Mel
Brooks’ Spaceballs (1987) was to the original Star Wars
films. Too bad, but since New Zealand
has not had this kind of film or material much, everything seems new to the
performers, who save this from total disaster.
It has a few smile-making moments, but this is otherwise strictly for
fans only, something Anchor Bay is aware of, so it should do well as another
cult item on DVD. For non-fans, a
little will go a long way.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image was shot on
video, but a good job was done to do the transfer here and was made in
conjunction with Showtime Australia.
Since it is still a silly pastiche, they can get away with much of
this. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has
some Pro Logic surround information and is the strongest point of the DVD by
default. The original soundtrack was
Dolby 5.1 EX, so why a 5.1 Dolby & DTS option does not exist is odd,
especially for Anchor Bay. Extras
include a making of program with Peter Jackson showing up, deleted scenes, two
commentaries TV spots and teaser trailer and theatrical trailer. That will satisfy those who enjoy this.
- Nicholas Sheffo
