Commander Arne Treholt (Mads Ousdal), poet, patriot, sage and, yes, wise in the ways of the ninja, has been charged with treason against the same Norwegian state he once swore to defend. In mockumentary style, Norwegian Ninja details the shocking true story (nudge-nudge, wink-wink) how Commander Treholt, acting under the orders of King Olaf V (Trond-Viggo Torgerson) created this top secret ninja commando squad in order to fight for the Norwegian way of life. On a remote island protected by an invisible fengshui barrier, Treholt schools his new recruits how to hone their ninja skills, live in harmony with nature and “be at one with the cosmos.” Treholt inexplicably spurns the lethally skilled “Black Pete” (Martinus Grimstad Olsen) in favour of the hapless “Bumblebee” (Amund Maarud) whom he remains stubbornly convinced will be become “the greatest ninja in the world.” Unfortunately Bumblebee blunders his way through every mission, as Treholt discovers threats to Norwegian security are being faked by Stay Behind, a C.I.A controlled global sabotage unit that blow up innocent people to convince survivors to vote for right-wing governments. One of their number, Otto Meyer (Jon Øigarden), who bears a grudge against Treholt since failing the entrance exam to the ninja squad, seizes his chance to discredit the Norwegian ninja master.
Of course the big joke behind Norwegian Ninja might be a lot funnier had not Swedish director Mats Helge got there first with a string of Scandinavian ninja movies that played the concept completely straight: e.g. The Ninja Squad (1984), Animal Protector (1988) and The Mad Bunch (1989), the latter two starring David Carradine as a mystical crackpot not too dissimilar from Arne Treholt. Shooting in scope, first time writer-director Thomas Cappellan Malling makes endearing use of cheesy miniatures, toy aeroplanes, sporadic CGI and mixed video formats to produce a better looking low-budget effort than those Cannon ninja movies from the 1980s he so obviously adores. This even has the same cheesy disco score you would find in films like Revenge of the Ninja (1983) or Pray for Death (1985). Leading man Mads Ousdal maintains an admirable poker face throughout whilst Malling gently mocks the absurdity of his own concept and ingeniously mixes the mockumentary format with archive news footage and impressively outrageous set-pieces.
Part-inspired by the life of the real Arne Treholt, as filtered through the pop culture obsessions of director Malling, the film is in some ways similar in tone to The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009) and is similarly conflicted about its nutty heroes. While watching Treholt attach jumper cables to turn himself into a human defibrillator is pretty funny, it is hard to gage Malling’s attitude towards ambiguous heroes who make blanket statements like “The ignorant masses must remain ignorant” and “The real prison is freedom itself.” Whereas Cannon ninja movies co-opted Eastern mysticism to uphold American ideals, Norwegian Ninja operates on the idea that American imperialism is the greatest threat to world peace. As a comedy it offers dry wit rather than belly laughs and remains somewhat meandering, never really shifting into top gear. Nevertheless, the slapstick ninja fights full of wild trickery are amusing, especially for anyone who sat through the worst excesses of Shô Kosugi and Michael Dudikoff.
