When I stumbled upon this 1987 movie titled "Treasure of the Ninja" here in 2024, of course I opted to watch it. Why? Well, solely because of the cheesy title, and because the 1980s were the glorious era of questionable ninja movies. And yeah, being 12 years old in 1987, of course I watched all the ninja movies that I could back then. But this movie had eluded me, right up until now.

The movie does start out well enough, if you enjoy thick 1980s cheese.

Writer and director William Lee put together a fair enough script here, if you enjoy campy and cheesy movies. Personally, I have to say that I was not particularly entertained by what William Lee delivered, as I prefer movies with more contents to them. The dialogue in the movie, though, could have been better for sure, as it was rather cringeworthy and wooden.

Needless to say that I was not familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list here. The acting performances were fair enough, taking into consideration the material that they had to work with.

The sound effects during the fight sequences are so over-the-top that they add a sense of comedy to the movie, though I doubt that was what writer and director William Lee was aiming for.

The quality of the movie is insanely poor. There was no digital restoration done to the movie. It was a direct transfer from questionable VHS, or even BetaMax, to DVD with all the dark and poor image quality and subpar audio you would expect from a video tape resurfaced from the 1980s. I suppose it has its charm in a way, but it was not easy on the eyes. And I virtually had no understanding of the perpetual sound of helicopter rotorblades whirring was about, and it was present throughout a large portion of the movie.

I would not say that "Treasure of the Ninja" is a movie worth sitting down to watch, even if you have an interest in the 1980s ninja movies. It just simply wasn't particularly entertaining or outstanding. It oozed to High Heaven of a home-made ninja movie project. This is not a movie that I would recommend you waste your time, money or effort on.

My rating of "Treasure of the Ninja" lands on a generous two out of ten stars.

Had an absolute blast watching William Lee's 1987 cult classic "Treasure of the Ninja". Both the film and the audio commentary which is so informative & funny.

First off it's amazing seeing the amount passion, knowledge & understanding that William has for filmmaking, cinema & martial arts. It's also incredible seeing William as a young black filmmaker making kung fu films since the early 80's in a predominantly white industry. I can't think of any other black filmmaker then or even in the 40 years since who's worked creating in the genre of American made kung fu films. This makes William Lee's work stand out as an auteur, innovator & a true original.

I always have a massive respect & adoration for filmmakers who've shot on actual celluloid film for countless reasons. Something so many of us filmmakers today in the digital age take for granted, with how much more effort & care went into the entire process from filming & post production. It should also be noted that this film was made during his final year at graduate school in film, who at the time was an employee at the WSU radio station & shot on location in those facilities without permission on the weekends.

The film "Treasure of the Ninja" is an absolute gem that any fan of kung fu films & DIY filmmakers will get a lot of entertainment & knowledge from. The fact this was made for under $1500 with a 1 hour 45 minute runtime just shows how efficient William Lee was back then and how effectively he handled his limited resources with most of the budget being spent on the positive reversal film stock.

Love watching anything that's shot on Super 8 & here visually you get all that charm from that format such as the vibrant colors, the film grain, the black lines, the cigarette burns, the scratches etc. The cheesy ADR & funny dialogue makes the film feel like an authentic Asian kung fu film or even a European film with it's use of dubbing. The entire sound design here is so effective & there's so much detail put into the sound effects here and every little nuance and action sequence is amplified by it.

Can clearly see William's influence from Bruce Lee films and the film is so unbelievably ambitious in it's approach despite being made on such a miniscule budget. The storyline despite being the cliche good guys vs bad guys actually has something different going on here. The character Magneta Faze is paired with a 14 year old girl who's a genius & gets stuck into a fair amount of the action & saving the day herself, which was a rare dynamic to see here. Both of these characters are government agents & sent on a mission to take out some deadly ninjas.

There's a lot of cool filmmaking techniques that pay homage to 70's cinema which I absolutely love & are rarely used today such as the long lingering zooms in and out which are used nicely. I always love seeing footage from films shot in 1980's New York such as "Driller Killer", "Maniac" & "Frank Henenlotter" films. There's quite a few scenes showing the urban area reflecting that period of time here. I should also mention one particular song from the soundtrack which I first heard in the trailer will get stuck in your head immediately & it's played several times throughout the film.

The athleticism & fight choreography is extremely hard hitting. William Lee & the performers (ninjas) are doing such agile stunts & there are countless fighting scenes repeated throughout the runtime. Plenty of high flying roundhouse kicks, countless fighting sequences with excellent sound design & sound effects reminiscent of the most popular kung fu flicks. Copious gun shots, sword battles & even a supernatural ninja who has the ability to behead those who he comes into combat with.

I can't get over how well done the fighting choreography is done here. Nobody looks like they're pulling back on the punches or kicks here. The long takes with minimal cuts & edits during these fight scenes just show how gifted William Lee's talents as a martial artist are here along with every other member of the ninja cast. Quite a few scenes here are honestly on par with the biggest budgeted kung fu and action flicks of all the time in how everything is orchestrated. There's some serious knowledge & evident craft put into every fight that's seen here.

This honestly is such a cool unique piece of film history that has been captured here & beautifully preserved with this AGFA Blu-ray release. This Blu-ray is absolutely stacked with extras. Including another feature from William Lee titled "Dragon Vs Ninja", " The New Chinese Connection" & "The Willie Jack Series". Pick up the AGFA Blu-ray & make a night of it! There's hours of entertainment to enjoy here!