Why hadn’t I heard of this move before? The Hunted (1995) is all about ninja fighting samurai. I’m not sure if it had a great plot or good acting, because I was too distracted by all the cool ninjas fighting the awesome samurai. They were throwing ninja stars at him, and he knocks them away with his katana and then chops up the evil ninjas.
That what I watch movies for.
Technically, the movie stars Christopher Lambert as a man on a short business trip to Japan who accidentally finds himself in the middle of a conflict between ninjas and samurai. He then spends pretty much the whole movie trying to stay out of the way of the aforementioned ninjas and the samurai until the very end when he fights the head ninja. He only has three weeks training with a sword, but there’s a twist to the fight that makes it somewhat realistic that he could win.
Unlike lots of cheesy 80’s ninja films, this movie tries to be accurate about the fighting styles and customs of the ninjas and the samurai. And why not; it was written and directed by the scribe of Pretty Woman. I haven’t seen that movie yet, but I can’t wait to now. It must be full of ninja/samurai action (and, I assume, some sort of attractive woman). Four stars.