Cold Fusion Video Reviews

• Directed by Gordon Hessler
• Written by James Booth
• Starring
  • Sho Kosugi
  • James Booth
  • Donna Kei Benz
  • Kane Kosugi
  • Shane Kosugi

There’s one majorly big difference between American ninja movies and Hong Kong ninja movies in the eighties. In Hong Kong, ninjas are the Japanese heavies being defeated by the heroic Chinese (jeez, get over it, will you? I mean, you don’t see Americans still making movies about the war against the Germans… oh wait, never mind); in the U.S., the ninjas were the heroes — mysterious, disquieting heroes, but heroes nonetheless.

Of course, to turn a natural heavy into a hero, you have to do something to mitigate that bad-ass ninja mystique. The obvious solution: Make him a former ninja, trying to forget his shadowy past but forced back into using his deadly skills for self-defense.

Enter Sho Kosugi.

There are plenty of great martial artists, and I’m sure many of them could whip Kosugi in a fair fight, but no one has ever been as good a movie ninja as Kosugi. Especially as a reluctant ninja; he made so many movies with his character being forced to use his ninja skills to protect his family (usually including at least one of his two real sons, Kane and Shane Kosugi), it practically became a subgenre of its own. And as for that fair fight above? Forget it; ninjas don’t believe in fair fights. Ninjas play to win.

In classic form, then Kosugi is Akira, a middle-management type at a Yokohama produce company, with a Japanese-American wife, two sons, and a secret: He was raised an orphan in a ninja shrine and became a ninja. Of course, this is a secret from his family; he plays the mild-mannered dad to a T, despite his children’s obsession with the Black Ninja TV show.

At a turning point in his career, he and his wife decide to move to America, where they buy a small restaurant from its retired widower owner and set out to make a new life.

Naturally, trouble drops in their lap, in the form of crooked cops who have been using the unused back room as a drop for stolen goods. One of the cops takes this occasion to cheat on his employer and keep the big-ass necklace for himself; when the goons find it missing, they first assume that the retired restauranteur took it; the fact that he’s moving out of town only confirms their suspicion. They cut him off leaving town, and show why they’re not top bananas: Instead of actually searching his car and luggage, they say, “Hey, this’ll take too long,” and blow it up. The old guy too.

Naturally, they next come after Akira’s family. Now, like I said, Kosugi’s characters always hold back. Even when the heavies kidnap his son, he shows up quietly and rescues him.

But everyone has a breaking point — and for Akira, it’s when the heavies run down his wife and one son in the street, then show up in the hospital to finish the job.

Time for a ninja ass-kicking.

Hey, I’ll admit, it’s a sorry excuse for a plot, but I don’t care. Kosugi just exudes controlled cool. He can do double backflips and pin you with his sword. He can tell the American cops to go to hell so authoritatively that they start packing their bags. He can escape from chains and melt into the shadows. He can even forge his own sword, since he brought no ninja weapons with him to America. And he can even look cool with floppy hair that looks like he went to Jackie Chan’s barber.

Alas, Kosugi disappeared from the scene after starring in roughly ten movies, and appearing in supporting roles in a handful more. One can only imagine that he retired to a quiet corner of his native Japan, waiting for the occasion for the ninja to rise again… maybe with a haircut this time.

Some Notable Totables:

• body count: 23 (plus another 15 in the opening episode of The Black Ninja)
• breasts: 0
• explosions: 3
• ominous thunderstorms: 0
• flashbacks: 1
• trips to the cemetery: 2
• thugs named “Bubba”: 1
• “homages” to Raiders of the Lost Ark: 1
• actors who’ve appeared on Star Trek: 3
  • Matthew Faison (”Sargeant Daley”) appeared as Surmak Ren on the 1st season DS9 episode “Babel”
  • Parley Baer (Sam Green, the unfortunate widower) played “old man” in the 3rd season Voyager episode “Sacred Ground”
  • Robert Ito (Kaga, Akira’s adoptive priest-father) was “Tactical Officer Lt. Chang” in the TNG 1st season episode “Coming of Age”