Reviews & Previews - Ninja Assassin

Posted on Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 06:00 PM

Ninja Assassin

By: S. Tran

Starring: Rain, Naomie Harris, Sho Kosugi
Directed By: James McTeigue 
Rated: R
Running Time: 99 minutes

Ninja-tastic

I guess if you were going to make a movie to appeal to young guys then Ninja Assassin is probably the second best name you could give it. The best name you could give it would probably include the word "Boobies" or some variation of it. Not surprisingly the film was ignored by the Oscars, because those snobs just can't appreciate a good film that has ninjas...assassinating people.

Korean pop star Rain stars as Raizo, a member of a secret clan of ninja assassins. Harris is the Interpol researcher Mika, who is tracking the clan and threatens to expose them to the world. Ninjas of course really object to having people all up in their business so they do what they do best and start chopping people up.

Fortunately for Mika, Raizo has had enough of the killing of people for money, no matter how cool it looks and is also hunting his former clan. Together they go on the run, Raizo killing other ninjas on low motion and Mika screaming a lot. There is also blood, lots of blood because these ninjas are deadly serious about the killing part. Raizo alone probably loses about 50 litres of the stuff as he battles his way through this video game inspired movie.

When you see a movie with a title like this you have to shift your expectations. It would laughable to come out of this film complaining about the acting. It's enough that the actors did a decent job. The film delivers the two most important things: ninjas and assassinations. Although really most of the deaths don't really qualify as assassinations in the most literal sense of the word. I don't really know if this film will do much for the careers of either of the two stars but at the very least it gives them some exposure and neither embarrasses themselves.

McTeigue does a great job with the film's visuals. It's a tough task considering ninjas don't typically like to do their business in well lit rooms. Despite the problems inherent when filming ninjas the fight scenes are well done and there are a couple of interesting set pieces including a running battle through traffic. The special effects are also good and reflect some nice production values.

Actions fans can probably enjoy themselves for 99 minutes on a slow night with this movie. I suspect you'll even be able to enjoy Ninja Assassins 2, with twice the blood sometime in the future.

2.5 stars out of 5

S. Tran also writes at Cracked.com, Gunaxin.com and Uproxx.com