Name: Norwegian Ninja (2010) Original title, Kommandør Treholt & Ninjatroppen.
IMDb: link to Norwegian Ninja
Genres: Historical fiction, Action, Comedy. Country of origin: Norway.
Cast: Mads Ousdal as Kommander Arne Treholt, Jon Oigarden as Otto Meyer, Trond-Viggo Torgersen as Kong Olav V, Linn Stokke as Ragnhild Umbraco, Amund Maarud as Humle (Bumble Bee).
Written and directed by: Thomas Cappelen Malling.
In 'real' life, Arne Treholt was a Norwegian diplomat accused of treason in 1984, convicted, and served eight years in prison. In 'reel' life, we have something entirely different.
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Interlude: white stars versus black holes:
I usually give reviews, comments, and ratings based on one model of appraisal. Let's call it the whitestar system: camera work is clear, focused, well-framed, well lit, reasonably filtered. Sound is clear, actors are well-miked; music, if present, is supportive of the screenplay. Acting is somewhere between competent and excellent. The screenplay is intelligible, plot lines converge at least eventually, and one is glad to have seen the film.
So when I use the WS model, five stars of five means good things happen in all areas. One star of five means there are serious deficits, usually in all areas mentioned above.
For this film, and a number of others, I'll post the rating in terms of a different model of appraisal: the blackhole system. In BH, the cinematography may suck. That is, poor framing, bad focus, little or no depth of field, jerky movements, stupid filter choices, not enough light, or way too much light. The sound may be blaring, or too quiet to distinguish the words of the actors. The music may be overbearing or obnoxious or too loud. Acting might be done by amateurs or drunks or someone in some other kind of stupor. The screenplay might make no sense at all. The special effects might be done by the director's ten-year-old who has ten thumbs, or use models from someone's science project, or show suspension wires or just look beyond belief stupid.
When I use the BH system, five blackholes of five means that there were massive failures in all areas. One might even need some liquid courage to finish the piece. One blackhole of five just means that there were some failures that a competent director and film crew would have caught in the dailies and fixed before too much footage was shot. (Before the underwriters caught wind, in other words.)
End interlude
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This particular film bifurcated early on from the reality principle, was filmed by some refugee from the seventies exploitation films, had special effects with obvious errors, and used models that the so-so camera work quickly showed to be insultingly bad.
This film's cumulative whitestar score might be zero, or negative one. These are usually out-of-range values, so I'm using the blackhole system of appraisal.
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The Three Acts:
The initial tableaux:
It's 1983 in Norway. The Cold War is still on, and Norway fields threats from both the USSR and the USA. Arne Treholt and his ninja team are dedicated to stopping these.
Delineation of conflicts:
Elements of NATO are threatening Norway. Russian submarines travel where they should not. The team needs to counter these threats, whether under the sea, or in the air, or on land. Humle needs to train in ninja ways to help the team achieve its goals. Will he be ready in time?
Resolution:
In its own inimitable way, the film came to a climactic conclusion.
One line summary: Norwegian send up of Cold War 1983.
There is a website at ninjatroppen.
Statistics (black hole system):
Cinematography: 9/10 Poor focus throughout. Use of yellow and orange filters for no apparent reason. Frequent camera jerks. CCTV footage with ultra-slow CRT refresh errors; very annoying. Frequent switches from main camera to CCTV was disconcerting. Special effects that were made ten times worse because of the camera work. On the other hand, I could often distinguish one actor from another, as in Arne was not Bumblebee.
Editing: 10/10 There were many continuity errors. Bumblebee was bleeding to death from a neck wound; the half a minute later he has no blood on him. A bit before this, he took maybe five sub-machine gun rounds. He slowed for a moment, then went about his business without bleeding.
Sound: 8/10 Odd drum machine music as background. The synthesizer music with the final credits was amazingly bad. Arne's discussion on the street with the KGB officers was not well-miked, but I had the impression that the sub-titles were off. When viewing a film where the spoken word is in a language I do not know, sub-titles can make or break the experience.
Acting: 8/10 Who needed to act? The script takes a few shots at the Russians, and a few more shots at the Americans, and the actors delivered that.
Screenplay: 9/10 The movie has a signed and registered divorce from the reality principle. The King of Norway participating in this farce? I think not. Vanishing in a puff of smoke? Nope. Motivations are often opaque. The special effects were strongly anti-convincing. Arne carrying enough current through his body to shock Bumblebee's heart back into beating? Perhaps not.
Special Effects: 10/10 Stupid model of the island where the ninjas hang out. Bad looking flame effects on that model. Perhaps the stupidest special effect for an incoming missile I've seen in ages. Seventies style graphics for military engagement telemetry. Laughable mountain hideout model. The 'glow from within' when the ninjas made some sort of breakthrough in consciousness just looked hokey. The explosion at the oil rig was really poor. Cigarettes leaping into Arne's mouth. Appearing and disappearing with a puff of smoke. I got some laughs out of the VTOL (vertical Take-Off and Landing) craft, and at the visible wires holding up the model of a prop plane.
Final Rating: 0/10 in the WS system; 9/10 in the BH system for its five black holes.
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