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I love Genovese’s
direction and handling of the film, and he directs his story with such a
gritty and oddly aged appeal that it almost looks like something from
the eighties. Genovese’s film is so 80’s chic in fact, I almost forgot
it was made a little under a year ago. Genovese is clearly a talent
behind the camera providing some crafty editing, great wide shots, and a
knack for competent pacing.
I really wanted
to like this. I really wanted to like it to the point where I was almost
forcing myself to enjoy it, but damn it, I just didn’t enjoy it as much
as I could have or should have. Comedy is a tough thing to create and
surely enough “The Ninja Always Rings Once” proves that rule with a
short story that not only really made no sense, but never sparked a
laugh from yours truly. A man named Lance dreams of becoming a ninja so
much that he drowns himself in ninja films and pictures, and even acts
like one when working at his job as a delivery boy for Ninja Pizza.
Curiously, Genovese also manages to squeeze in another central plot
device where Lance manages to hit on every woman he meets in China Town
whenever he delivers pizza.
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And he does
it so much that he is beaten to a pulp by their boyfriends.
He accidentally crashes into an actual ninja, and the two
form a bond as the man known only as Takeshi trains him to
become a ninja warrior. Cue the admirable but overall flat
efforts to invoke laughter which I truly wanted to be
entertained with, but sadly just didn’t. Vesa’s soundtrack
is not only terrible, but makes the experience excruciating
with songs that are just outright distracting.
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All the while the
joined efforts of Takeshi to train Lance are all but cheesy and boring
montages, as well as odd sequences of Takeshi seducing a young girl of
Lance’s romantic interest. While this dichotomy between the two
has the ability to build some utter hysterics, here it’s just annoying,
and I was wondering where it was all leading. Gabriel Leon as Lance is
both distracting and rather shrill often shouting to his master and
acting as a truly obnoxious hero you just can’t stand to root for. While
you have to appreciate the premise, Leon’s performance leaves much to be
desired and he made the tale of the fanboy becoming a true ninja
tedious. The overall climax again has potential to be a great dose of
ambiguity, but instead I was just happy it’d ended.
I just didn’t
care much for “The Ninja Always Rings Once” and in spite of my best
efforts to take the movie with a tongue in cheek attitude, we didn’t
click. However, I look forward to seeing what Genovese can do with
future films, because he’s no slouch as a director.
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