| Ninja in the Dragon's Den | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Corey Yuen |
| Written by | Corey Yuen Ng See-yuen |
| Produced by | Ng See-yuen |
| Starring | Conan Lee Hiroyuki Sanada Hwang Jang-lee Kwan Yung-moon |
| Cinematography | Allan Poon |
| Music by | Chow Fu-liang Tang Siu-lam |
| Distributed by | Seasonal Film Corporation |
Release date |
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Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | Hong Kong |
| Languages | Cantonese Japanese |
| Box office | HK$7,587,002[1] |
Ninja in the Dragon's Den (Chinese:龍之忍者) is a 1982 Hong Kongmartial arts film directed byCorey Yuen in his feature film directorial debut, and written by Yuen andNg See-yuen. It starsConan Lee,Hiroyuki Sanada andHwang Jang-lee. The film was released theatrically in Hong Kong on 24 June 1982.
In Japan of theTokugawa Ieyasu period, a youngninja 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 torestore 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.
In December 2019, the film holds aRotten Tomatoes rating of 76% based on 277 reviews.[2] Reviews specifically praise the film's dynamics, its unusual story, and its theme song.[3][4]
On 25 March 2002, DVD was released byHong Kong Legends in theUnited Kingdom inRegion 2.