The film is set in the Sengoku era in Japan, roughly 400 years ago, though that fact is pretty irrelevant, as we soon see. At first we see a band of ninjas running through a forest chasing after other ninjas from a rival clan. Nothing out of the ordinary yet, the film starts of with some good ninja on ninja action, including some fairly impressive stunt work and fight choreography, it never feels like real combat, but it is fun to watch, and the fact that it all happens at night hides the CG well. After dispatching the rival clan, Ninja leader Yamata starts back to his village when his attention is drawn to a giant fireball falling from the sky and landing in his forest. He appears briefly concerned but soon he and his crew head on home and simply report the weird giant fireball to the head ninja, who promptly directs them to go back out and investigate.
At first Yamata and crew think it may be some strange modern weapon from the avenging rival clan, bu soon they are proven wrong when their stroll through the forest turns into a bloodbath with the ninjas succumbing one-by-one to an unseen enemy. At this point, about forty five minutes in, we finally see our first glimpse of the titular alien, only in the form of a severed tentacle, the aliens are fast, you see, and it is gonna take some know how to kill them. At this point the ninjas set up traps, which work in drawing the extraterrestrials out into the open, but only manage to make them mad. This is where the film really picks up.
One by one ninjas and aliens fall, but not without gallons of arterial spray and whatever it is that oozes from severed alien limbs. At this point we finally get out first god look at the aliens, and they are, um, weird. Part Xenomorph, part Whack-A-Mole, and part porpoise, these creatures definitely borrow from establish creatures in their appearance, but are played by men in suits, Kaiju style. There is some CG in their make up, mainly via their prehensile tails, that whip out whenever they need an extra advantage. Despite the fact that the aliens are so fast that for the first portion of the film they couldn't even be seen, they decide to slow down and take on the ninjas one at a time. Then, it really gets nuts.
Aliens Vs. Ninjas is a fun little movie, and for a Sushi Typhoon quickie, it is remarkably restrained. Now, that is only speaking on a relative level. AVN is nuts, but when compared the the work of Iguchi and Nishimura, it looks a bit like a children's movie. The blood and gore is relatively reserved, and the weirdness, apart from the premise itself, is kept to a minimum. That being said, there are definite touches that let you know this is not a film to be taken seriously.
The ninjas costumes are certainly not authentically Sengoku era costumes, their suits look more like what we saw in Ninja last year, with heavy armor and bondage styled accoutrement. This, among other things, lends the feeling that the film takes place out of sync with the real world, it doesn't ever attempt to stay in the real world either, which is an advantage in its case, allowing the viewer to become lost in the action and just go along for the ride.
AVN features slimy alien mole rats, zombie ninjas, hot babe ninjas, decapitations, head smashings, lecherous aliens, swords up the butt, and a few surprises. If this sounds interesting to you, AVN is the film you're looking for. I thought it was a lot of fun, and look forward to revisiting it soon!
The Disc:
FUNimation bring us the very first of their Sushi Typhoon acquisitions to the US in fine form. The Blu-ray is sharp and clear, and there's no reason it shouldn't be, as all of these types of films have been shot digitally, so there are no problems with dust or bad transfers. The audio is similarly great, with the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track spreading the action around, particularly in the first half of the film, when there are more ninjas hopping around. There is little ambience, but the action certainly makes up for it. I listened to the Japanese language track, but, as with all FUNimation releases, there is a professionally made English dub on board this disc as well, and if their past work is indicative, this one is fine as well. I just prefer to watch live action films in their native languages.
Also on board as a bonus is a twenty minute making-of documentary. It is divided into several segments, briefly touching on the original idea, the action, the FX, and including interviews with the lead actors in the film. One thing that is mentioned frequently by Seiji Chiba, the director, in his section is that the producers wanted to make this film for overseas audiences, and not worry so much about the domestic Japanese audiences. This has been a sticking point among many detractors of the recent crop of Japanese gore films, starting with The Machine Girl, and that is that they are inauthentic. I can see that argument, and to some degree I agree with it, however, as a viewer, I really try to go into a movie hoping to enjoy it on its own merits rather than as it relates to other films from its geographic location. I don't always succeed, and sometimes I do enjoy films specifically for their Japanese-ness, but it is a frequently made argument, and it was interesting to see Chiba embrace the idea of a Japanese film for an American audience with such zest.
AVN is a really fun film, and like most of its ilk it is all killer and no filler. The film comes in around 81 minutes, leaving little time for meditation, which works greatly to its advantage. FUNimation has given it a worthy release and if you are at all interested in this film, I urge to you pick up this Blu-ray disc, because it will far surpass the DVD version of the same thing, I guarantee you that! AVN is hard coded to Region A for Blu-ray.