There was a time, maybe fifteen years ago, when a title like “Ninja vs. Shark” would have been enough to whip up some early-viral excitement. In those days, the tongue-in-cheek grindhouse homage was still a novel idea, and upstart filmmakers were in a rush to combine b-movie tropes into self-consciously “epic” packages. Now, after more than a decade of lazy faux-exploitation productions dropped on streaming, the freshness factor has worn off. Still, not all filmmakers are created equally, and it's important to note that “Ninja vs. Shark” is directed by stunt legend Koichi Sakamoto, who has made a career crafting dizzying fight choreography and directing live action anime and Tokusatsu features. His reputation made the idea of yet another “[B-Movie Creature] vs. [“B-Movie Creature]” title a little more exciting, and the good news is that he's created a legitimately entertaining and refreshingly brief movie that, for better or worse, plays a little like the best possible version of a Mortal Kombat fan film.
Ninja vs Shark is screening at Camera Japan
Despite the no-brainer title, the actual story isn't entirely straightforward. In Edo Japan, an evil cult has been preying on a local village made up of pearl divers and their families. Desperate to defend themselves, they turn to a mysterious ninja named Kotaro (Kohshu Kirano) who has his own moral darkness. He soon crosses paths with Shinsuke (Shun Nishime), an idealistic villager, and Sayo (Juria Nagano), the ostracized young woman he loves. Shinsuke feels romantically threatened by Kotaro, but they soon realize they'll need to team up in order to save the townsfolk from the cult's powerful leader, Koushirou (Yuichi Nakamura), and a vicious ninja named Kikuma (Kanon Miyahara).
If it's not immediately evident how a shark will come into play, that's probably because the film mostly saves its titular showdown for the very end. An opening scene of Sayo in the ocean establishes that there's something sinister in the water, but the real set piece comes in the final fifteen minutes. This is the universal disappointment of lower budget movies like this: the core idea simply can't be sustained for the full length of the film, meaning that there's usually a whole lot of exposition and boring “tension building.”
Check also this interview
The difference here comes in Sakamoto's ability to stage compelling action sequences that don't need sharks or any other CGI creature to be compelling. He uses a crazy elevator pitch mostly as a way to set up scenes of ninjas squaring off against each other in back-to-basics sword fights. Sure, there are some otherworldly creatures and dark magic spells, but the bulk of the action relies on fun choreography and assured direction (the sometimes too-shaky camera work aside). Even the use of digital blood splatter, often a distracting crutch, feels deliberate and stylish, with bright explosions of red that look straight out of a comic panel. There are even some old school practical effects to balance things out; rubber hoses and red dye and rubber monster masks harken back to a simpler era of R-Rated silliness.
The actors are up to the task, especially with Yuichi Nakamura and Kanon Miyahara both admirably sinking their teeth (sometimes literally) into characters that can best be described as PS2 fighting game villains. Kirano is solid as Kotaro, even when the character's motivations are shaky. His strange relationship triangle with Nishime and Nagano's characters provides more character ambiguity and depth than you're expecting.
That ambiguity, however, is a mixed bag. On the one hand, the script avoids simple “hero rides into town” tropes by muddying Kotaro's moral code. Not merely filling a generic “anti-hero with a heart of gold” role, he's a self-centered sword-for-hire capable of real nastiness. The problem is that his mean-streak is established in horrible fashion during his first scene, which sees the aftermath of a heinous act of sexual violence. By going on to characterize him as a flawed yet ultimately noble man, the rest of the movie fails to reckon with this introduction, creating a cognitive dissonance that undermines everything that follows.
This is an unfortunate stain on an otherwise fun film, though it will likely be overshadowed by the inevitable mayhem that dominates the final fifteen minutes. This maximalist beach showdown has an oversized shark ripping chunks out of human flesh as magic ninjas clash on the sand. The beast itself is a completely digital creation that lacks any real sense of weight, but there's a trashy charm to seeing a great white soar out of the ocean as our heroes slash at it with katanas. Having all of this stuffed into a single scene may be disappointing for those expecting nothing but what they see on the poster, but anyone with an appreciation of Sakamoto's brand of action will be satisfied. It's not anywhere near a genre masterpiece, but it gets the job done.
