In this actioner directed by James McTeigue (V For Vendetta), the mega-popular Korean popstar, Rain (Speed Racer), plays Raizo, a ninja, who was trained by an underground ninja army that specializes in various political assassinations. After a fallout with his master Ozunu, played by 80’s ninja veteran, Sho Kosugi, Raizo decides to go against his clan, who are now trying to kill him. Naomie Harris plays Mika, a Europol agent who is trying to find the clan and put a stop to their dastardly deeds. Needless to say, Mike and Raizo join forces.
I admittedly liked the title before I even saw the movie because it had such a B-movie quality, like Shogun Assassin, or even…heck, Princess Bride. The title, Ninja Assassin, sounds rather redundant, but in this case, he assassinates other ninjas. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a good ninja movie (at least live action), so I was hoping for some good ol’ fashioned 80’s style ninja goodness with modern zippy action with perhaps a dash of ironic humor (maybe like Kill Bill). Unfortunately, the poor writing seems to drag this film down.
A good chunk of the movie plays out back and forth in flashbacks of Raizo’s past in Japan, when he was being trained by Ozuno, a harsh master/trainer who raises/kidnaps orphans to turn them into efficient killing machines. There, Raizo also develops a romance with one of the female ninjas. While one can pretty much guess how he left the clan, I think there’s a bit of a problem when the flashbacks are a lot more interesting than the current proceedings of the movie. A chunk of all the good, dramatic stuff happen in flashback, which makes the current events, while explaining away the reason for having all the action now, are not as engaging emotionally. Heck, I would have been fine if they kept it all chronological.
This movie marks Rain’s first time playing a leading role in a Hollywood film. Rain certainly has the muscles and athleticism to play the part, but the lines he has been given are stunted and not very interesting, while he comes off much better in the flashback scenes. Naomie Harris doesn’t fare any better either, because we don’t really care about the goings on of Europol. Sho Kosugi, however, plays the villain with no false note—he can bring charisma and authenticity to a scene just by his disapproving scowl alone. In the 80’s, playing ninjas, he probably had to do much of his acting through his eyes. He has the intensity thing down pat.
While Raizo’s training scenes show off much of what he is capable of, many of the actual fight scenes with baddies take place in the dark and there’s a rather over-reliance in rapid editing (one of my pet peeves about American martial arts movies). And, lots of CG blood. There were some really cool scenes though, one of which involved a moving flashlight while fighting in complete darkness.
Rarely do I have a problem with having too much blood in an action movie. However, I thought they rather overdid it, especially for a ninja movie. The overabundance of CG blood just doesn’t look intense. True, some of the red geysers in Kill Bill were occasionally cheesy, but those were a homage to old school B-movies, and reactions of the characters said it all. I have a tendency to look at ninjas as very efficient killing machines, with minimum mess behind them, and leave as unnoticed as they had come. Here, they were a little too noticeable. I suppose one can explain that away since we have an army of ninjas in this movie, which is unusual in the first place. This is more a personal preference in ninja portrayals on my part.
Overall, I felt Ninja Assassin could’ve used a better draft to work off from. This film had potential to be a great, fun ninja flick. The action scenes are at times quick and interesting, yet there’s over-reliance on CG gore. I can’t imagine what could’ve happened if Quentin Tarantino had done a rewrite of it. I give Ninja Assassin ** ½ out of **** stars.
This movie is currently playing at the dollar theaters at La Mirada Movies 7 and Brookhurst Discount Cinemas in Orange County.
You can also follow my article updates on Twitter!
Comments