THE VERDICT: Mexican filmmakers have always been quick to jump on the latest bandwagon if they think there´s money to be made, as anyone who´s seen Tintorera... Bloody Waters (a Jaws rip-off) or Guyana, Cult of the Damned (a cheap version of the Jim Jones tragedy) can tell. By the way, both movies were made by prolific auteur Rene Cardona Jr., better known for the touching plane crash/cannibal drama Survive!.

The kung-fu craze triggered by Enter the Dragon meant the opening of martial arts schools all over Mexico and an increase in the number of Hong Kong films released to theaters. It would seem logical that Mexican producers would attempt to make their own versions of these epics. However, a lack of expertise in the specific area of Asian fighting styles apparently prevented these enterprising copycats from doing just that. It was up to a comedian like Gaspar Henaine (a.k.a. Capulina) to get the most mileage out of this trend with his 1974 opus El Karateca Azteca.

In the 80´s the popularity of Sho Kosugi and the American Ninja series gave the Mexican film industry a second chance to cash in on the genre and once again there were only a few movies like Itara, el Guardian de la Muerte and Puerto Maldito that included a significant amount of martial arts, but no ninjas.

It was only in 1990 that the release of El Ninja Mexicano and Justiciero Callejero, both starring Leonardo Daniel and apparently shot back-to-back, finally let viewers know what a Mexican movie with some ninjas in it might look like. The answer is: not very good.

El Ninja Mexicano opens with the evil ninjas breaking into a factory and stealing what they think is the entire formula for developing the aforementioned drug. This opening is competently done, with the director making the most out of a very low budget through some good camera angles, although the editing could have used some more work.

Unfortunately, it´s all downhill from there. The remainder of the movie is made up mostly of dialogue scenes in which the industrialist tries to keep the existence of the new drug a secret from a headstrong detective, played by Eduardo Liñan, even as he faces the possibility that the ninjas might try to kidnap a member of his family to pressure him into handing over the entire formula.

The industrialist is played by German Robles, whom horror fans might remember from his role as Count Lavaud in 1957´s El Vampiro, released in the United States by K. Gordon Murray as The Vampire. Even though the star is supposed to be Leonardo Daniel, it´s Robles who has the most screen time and he brings a degree of dignity to a role that could have easily degenerated into overwrought melodrama.

I should mention that it´s not Leonardo Daniel´s fault that Robles walks away with the film. Any actor would be hard-pressed to make an impression as Robles´ older son, a dorky type who is first seen enjoying himself in a club while the formula is stolen. The other big scenes involving this character show him being thrown into a pool by some bullies and daydreaming while a serious argument is taking place. That is, until the "shocking" twist ending comes along.

If you´re wondering why I haven´t mentioned the Mexican Ninja so far, it´s because he doesn´t have a lot to do, other than sneaking around the lab where the formula was stolen and briefly fighting the evil ninjas. I´m guessing the makers of El Ninja Mexicano were hoping the film would be successful enough to warrant a sequel. This would explain why the writers, Fernando Perez Gavilan and Antonio Orellana, went to such trouble to keep the viewer guessing who this heroic character might be, and also why the director went along with this idea, since it clearly doesn´t work. Unless you´re still wondering why you never see Superman and Clark Kent in the same room, you should be able to guess the Mexican Ninja´s secret identity in a hurry.

All of this wouldn´t really matter if the action scenes were any good. Other than the opening there´s only two of them. The second one shows the Mexican Ninja finally meeting the evil ninjas, and while the performers could probably beat me silly without breaking a sweat, it´s far from impressive. The moves the ninjas pull are sluggish, giving the impression the stunt men were worried someone might get hurt. This, combined with a crew that was probably learning how to film martial arts as they went along, makes for some dull action.

This is not to say that this is the worst martial arts movie ever made. It´s just that there´s nothing particularly exciting about it. The whole thing looks more like the unsold pilot for a TV series than the hyperkinetic activity we´ve come to expect from the Hong Kong film industry. To make matters worse, the cast has to struggle against dialogue that sounds like it was lifted from a G.I.Joe cartoon.

El Ninja Mexicano has the same problem as Curados de Espantos. A movie with vampires or ninjas running around in Mexico City would be great fun if the filmmakers really placed these characters in some of the situations those of us who live in this huge city are familiar with. Instead, they decided to tell a story that could take place anywhere else.

I mentioned that it isn´t the worst ninja movie ever, but it comes really close in the final scene. This, the big pay-off to all the pedestrian drama that has come before looks like it might amount to something, with both the good and bad ninjas running around some sort of compound, until the Mexican Ninja and his pals venture into Ed Wood territory.

It would seem that the filmmakers decided shooting the final action sequence on location would be too difficult, so they had the opposing ninjas fight on a soundstage that bears no resemblance to the factory it´s supposed to be. I´m very forgiving when it comes to low budget productions, but the people behind El Ninja Mexicano didn´t even try. When the Mexican Ninja has the required climactic battle with the leader of the evil ninjas he´s shown standing on one side of a stage, with a black canvas as a backdrop, telling his (off-screen) companions that he has to face the bad guy on his own. He then turns around to meet the evil ninja leader who is at the other end of the stage and after a few unspectacular moves our hero wins the fight.

There´s no explanation for who these evil ninjas are, or where they came from. The same goes for the good ninjas, who obviously dress in white even if this makes them easy targets. For some reason, the words "drug" and "cocaine" are censored from the TV print of this movie. It´s hard to imagine why anyone would mistake such a silly film for something too controversial to be shown intact.

As if this weren´t enough there are a number of cast members who are badly underused in El Ninja Mexicano. This includes blonde bombshell Felicia Mercado, whose character is killed halfway through the movie, and British actress Azela Robinson, who barely registers in a couple of fleeting scenes. Worst of all is the shortchanging of Agustin Bernal, a hulking, likeable actor who in his role as a ninja doesn´t even get to show his face. Bernal has appeared in many other action pictures and he also had a supporting role in Liliana y Lorena, one of a handful of hardcore porn movies that have been made in Mexico.

Other than German Robles and the big action scene at the end, which really deserves to be in a "so bad it´s good" compilation, there´s no reason to watch this. Even those Don "The Dragon" Wilson vehicles look good compared to this.

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