“Black Samurai” is one bad movie in the literal sense of the word. Fortunately, its enjoyable to watch because of its sheer ineptness and stupidity. The film features awful and uninspired acting, directing, and writing. When it comes to blaxploitation films, its even worse than either “Dolemite” or “The Black Gestapo”. The filmmakers obviously had little to no interest in the final product outside of whether it would sell or not. The only area its a considerable success in is entertainment value. In other words, fans of this kind of schlock will be amused.
The direction by Al Adamson is his usual uninspired self, but he loads on plenty of absolutely gonzo elements (this is second only to “Satan’s Sadists” as the most enjoyable work I’ve seen from him). This film is as insane as its concept suggests (something exploitation fans know doesn’t always happen). By the time Jim Kelly straps on a jet pack to go fight midgets with kung-fu, I was in trash heaven. Jim Kelly’s performance as a super bad super spy is pretty lousy, but to be honest the man was an impressive fighter. Still, the rest of the cast is not, making even this unintentionally hilarious. Even goofier is the horribly post-dubbed dialog thats absolutely inane (“Come on, hit me sucker. Chump. You’re a chump!”). In other words, most film fans won’t appreciate this, but if you’re intrigued by what you read you’ll probably enjoy this. Its one of the worst films I’ve seen but its never boring
