The Black Ninja


The Black Ninja is a 2003 American martial arts action film written, directed and starring Clayton Prince, and featuring Carla Brothers, Nicky DeMatteo, Yuki Matsuzaki, Heather Hunter, John Canada Terrell and Michael Chance. The film has been called a modern-day Blaxploitation film, however, it received very poor reviews from critics. After a limited theatrical release, it went straight-to-DVD and distributed worldwide in January 2003.

Premise

Maliq Ali is a defense attorney whose guilt over freeing guilty criminals, and the death of his family, leads him to become a costumed ninja vigilante who stalks these same criminals at night. After refusing to defend Tony Fanelli, a small-time mobster accused of murder, he finds himself involved in protecting the only witness, Tracey Allen, from Fanelli's hired thugs. While protecting this young woman, he is confronted by The Red Ninja, a Japanese assassin, who years before killed his family rather than pay Ali for defending him.

Cast

Primarily financed by Clayton Prince, filming began in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and ended after two weeks. Critics noted that the rush to finish the film drastically affected its overall quality, much of which could have been cleaned up post-production editing, leaving it looking "unfinished and more like an amateur, student film". An hour-long "Making of" documentary was produced and included on the DVD following its release. It gave a "behind the scenes" look on the set of a low-budget film and featured many of the cast and crew voicing their opinions on the lack of opportunity in the film industry in regards to race.

Reception

The Black Ninja was given a limited theatrical release on November 2, 2002, and distributed worldwide on DVD on January 14, 2003. The film was heavily criticized for its apparent lack of martial arts choreography and generally poor quality of the story, acting and cinematography.