If it bleeds, ninjas can kill it! The first wave of Sushi Typhoon titles, a Nikkatsu sub-label created to produce cool films only, opens with Seiji Chiba’s directorial effort assisted by two full time action directors: Yuji Shimomura (Versus) and Kensuke Sonomura (Hard Revenge Milly: Bloody Battle). It’s a “storyline go fuck yourself” affair all about a death match between violent ninjas and sleazy aliens. Alien vs. Ninja is tongue in the cheek action fun with mini budget but high flying imagination. Guts and body parts are splatter over the battle ground, but serious brutality is kept to minimum, and the some of the plentiful humor would even make old school Hong Kong audiences blush. Special effects and creature design rely on traditional handwork and men in rubber suits, with occasional silly CG effect purely played for laughs. While the film could do with slightly more serious tone and more gore, the over-the-top inventiveness was greeted by an enthusiastic festival audience with big applauses 6 or 7 times during the film. Talk about crowd pleaser.
Trailer (color corrected and better quality than the previous versions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTJgAgdfBEI
The female star of AvN, Mika Hijii, is no stranger to ninja films. She co-starred alongside Scott Adkins in the US production Ninja (2009), and played the lead role in Seiji Chiba's 2009 kunoichi (female ninja) film Nukenin, in which she really gets to display her action talent while killing a few dozen sneaky ninjas and dirty samurais with swords and fists. Sadly, the film isn't nearly as much fun as AvN, featuring a dull storyline, no aliens, and placing its best action scenes in the beginning of the film. She has also acted in the tokusatsu shows Garo and Kamen Rider Blade.
Here's a her blog:
http://ameblo.jp/mikaringojuice/
(the blog adress is mikaringojuice. Mika Ringo is her nick name. Ringo means apple)
