All but forgotten gem from the mid-90s starring one-time ‘Highlander’ Christopher Lambert and from the writer of ‘Under Siege’, ‘The Hunted’ is a savage little ninja movie that deserves more recognition. Lambert is Racine, a New York executive on business in Nagoya, Japan. On one of his last nights, he accepts the invitation to spend the evening with the alluring Kirina (Joan Chen), who, unbeknownst to Racine, is marked for death by a deadly ninja cult. Witnessing Kirina’s murder and seeing the face of the feared ninja leader (John Lone), Racine himself is then also marked for death. His only hope for survival is Sensai Takeda (Yoshio Harada), a feared adversary of the ninja, who whisks him away into the mountains of Japan to train in the way of the sword and prepare for battle with the ninja clan.

Jettisoning the goofy tone that would often belabour many 80s/90s ninja-themed action films, ‘The Hunted’ treats the mysterious killers with respect, presenting them as a ruthless assassin army. An often viciously violent film, John Lone (‘The Last Emperor’, ‘The Shadow’) is a fierce antagonist as the head of a ninja clan, a clan devoutly dedicated to him and hunting down Racine. This leads to some exhilarating momentum and set pieces as Takeda desperately attempts to get the injured Racine out of the city to somewhere safe. Lawton and crew thus orchestrate some fierce action as the clan closes in on the heroes. This leads to a bravura set piece set on a bullet train as the ninjas besiege it, slaughtering all passengers as they make their way through the cabins to face off with Takeda. It’s a great scene, the showstopper of the whole film, and holds up today in its full-tilt urgency to represent the attacking ninjas as scary foes.

The film is packed with violent action, Lone credible as the ninja master and his right-hand woman Junko (Mari Natsuki) perhaps even fiercer and scarier than her master. The film is led by an excellent Japanese cast (Yoshio Harada particularly effective as the good ninja helping Racine) that Lambert (while good) is really just a crux to get the chase element running and have ninjas face off against one another at regular intervals. He does learn to fight along the way and the last act maybe does succumb to the white saviour element of his character, but he is rarely presented as the full-blown hero, more as an innocent character thrust into unbelievable and dangerous circumstances. And this is why the film works so well: Racine out-his-depth and relying on the likes of Takeda to save his life.

It may be a bit dated in style by modern standards and overly pulpy for the more highbrow out there, but ‘The Hunted’ sticks to its darkly fierce guns (well swords really!) to deliver a rollicking action drama bolstered by a superb cast. ‘The Hunted’ comes from a more earnest and do-it-practically time, making it hit home a little harder. Plus, it’s just a well-made ninja movie, which is something that should be celebrated.