Nonton Film Ninja Torakage (2014) Full Movie
Nonton Film Ninja Torakage (2014) Full Movie Sub Indonesia
Readers, you may have been misled. When the first images and trailers for gore-meister Yoshihiro Nishimura’s latest film emerged it seemed like he might have gone a bit (only a bit, mind) more serious than his usual fare. Not so! The Ninja War of Torakage is as silly as you might expect of the man behind the likes of Tokyo Gore Police, and in being so is one of Nishimura’s finest films to date.
Torakage (Takumi Saitoh) is a retired ninja, living peacefully with his wife and son. However, when his former, and rather evil, master (Eihi Shiina) needs expertise to seek out the parts of a treasure map, she forces Torakage back into action by kidnapping his son. Torakage and his wife (Nana Seino) must fight and double-cross their way to the end of his quest so that they can save their son.
In synopsis I suppose that sounds like quite a sensible plot. In practice, it’s a bit wackier, as we are treated to bizarre creatures, ninja moves that defy the laws of physics, spectacular set pieces and one of the funniest narrations, dotted throughout the film, that I’ve seen. This is not a film that will necessarily win you over to this brand of cinema, but Torakage has a truly sweet core that may help ground the film for some. This film is also more heavily action-orientated than it is preoccupied with gore – although there are still lashings of the red stuff – therefore the silliness of the film becomes inherently more akin to slapstick than it does to simply over-the-top violence. I don’t think many of Nishimura’s films comfortably fit into one genre, as is the case here – if anything, I’d say this is a Ninja-Musical, with a splash of the Western. If that doesn’t make you want to see it then, well, this might not be for you.
There are some stand-out set pieces in this film, which need to be seen to be believed. For example, two words: human shuriken. If I were to describe the scene you might wonder why the hell I liked this film so much. A sequence in which two sets of ninjas battle each other while navigating, and indeed, riding on human sacrifices tied to slabs of rock might be a highlight of the film to me. Other highlights include the aforementioned silly narration. In this film you will meet Francisco, Portugese ninja expert, who every now and again pops up to tell us about, well, ninja stuff. In the post-film Q&A, Nishimura’s only explanation for Francisco was that he thought there were a lot of Europeans called Francisco. Reason enough, right? Also, just you wait for the ‘cameo’ from the director of The Grudge. Nishimura assured us they are actually friends, honest. There’s a great creature design in the film, too, a bizarre humanoid with wings made of human hands (you’ve probably seen the photo). Great performances root the film, as I’ve mentioned, to its human core of Torakage’s family (stop sniggering, it’s true). Eihi Shiina is, of course, a highlight as Torakage’s truly megalomaniacal nemesis.
A film like this benefits immensely from its simple plot because the appeal is wholly in the spectacle. And while it’s easy to sit here and write about how ‘silly’ a lot of the film is, it takes a whole load of talent to make something so mad be so genuinely good. Nishimura might make ‘silly’ films, but he is an extremely talented filmmaker and, obviously, a great special effects artist. This film was shot in two weeks, and it doesn’t really show all that much. Yes, there’s a bit of ropey CGI in there as there usually is, but by now that seems to be a stylistic element of this sort of film as much as it’s a marker of a low budget.