Ninja Assassin is set in Berlin where Europol researcher Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris) has a possible lead on several assassinations, Mika believes that Government's are paying a Japanese clan of Ninja assassins to take out anyone they want. The last bureau investigator to make the connection Alexsei Sabatin (Wladimir Tarasjanz) was thrown out of Europol & was then murdered, Mika is convinced she is right & continues to pursue her theory & talks to Alexi's widow who gives Mika a file about the Ozu Ninja clan that her late husband had built up. Going back to her apartment Mika is attacked by the Ozu Ninja who now want her dead as she is too close, but Mika is saved by another Ninja who introduces himself as Raizo (Rain) who was once a member of the Ozu clan but turned his back on them after they killed his girlfriend & now wants to bring them down. On the run from the Ozu clan & Europol both Raizo & Mika have to deal with Ninja assassins & armed police as they go on the run...
This American & German co-production was directed by James McTeigue & if you want lots of bloody Ninja fighting action & martial arts moves then Ninja Assassin is the film you need to see, if your a Ninja, martial arts or action film fan then it's very hard not to like Ninja Assassin. First of all the plot isn't anything groundbreaking, a superhuman Ninja assassin decides killing people isn't the life for him so turns against his master & clan & sets out to put an end to the Ozu Ninja assassins. The first half of Ninja Assassin is split between the present day action of Europol agent Mika uncovering the existence of the Ozu Ninja & flashbacks from Raizo chronicling his brutal training & the events that had lead up to the present situation, I will certainly give the script credit for trying to inject some heart & feeling into the Ninja & giving him some proper strong reasons for his bloody revenge even if it is still a little simplistic. At 100 odd minutes the pace is good & the second half features some truly spectacular Ninja & martial arts fights the likes of which I can't remember seeing before. I did question the climax somewhat though, how did Mika get Raizo to swallow that homing device? Why did Europol turn up at the motel if the homing device was on Raizo? How did Mika know the Ozu Ninja would just take Raizo rather than kill him & her there & then? I suppose you could come up with plausible answers for these questions though so it's not a deal breaker or a film killer.
I watched Ninja Assassin on Blu-ray last night & it looked mightily impressive, the Blu-ray also features a few deleted scenes which expand on the investigation by Mika a little bit but nothing major was cut. Where Ninja Assassin excels is with it's fight scenes, there are some fantastically cool martial arts scenes here from the Ozu Ninja attacking a Europol building to a great fight on a road with speeding cars zooming past the fighters to the climax set inside a burning dojo with embers floating in the air everywhere as sworn enemies fight to scenes of Raizo slicing the bad guy's up with a razor sharp blade on the end of a long chain. Ninja Assassin is probably as good as the final Ninja scene from Tarantino's Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) only in colour so the copious amounts of blood splatter can be seen in it's full glory. Make no mistake about it Ninja Assassin is maybe the goriest big budget Hollywood flick to get a theatrical release, heads are chopped in half, bodies are cut in half, arms, legs, fingers & heads are severed, people are stabbed, cut, chopped up & the amount of blood is often quite staggering. I also liked how the makers made the Ninja assassins of stealth who moved silently through the shadows & only show glimpses of them for the first few action scenes. There are plenty of cool poses & stylised action moves to keep one entertained & amused, some of the Ninja weaponry is cool too with some seriously dangerous looking Shruiken.
With a supposed budget of about $40,000,000 this is very well made, even on high definition Blu-ray the CGI blood looked alright, actually filmed in Berlin in Germany. The acting is fine, Rain is apparently a Korean pop star but does look the part here & he obviously trained hard. Shô Kosugi comes out of retirement to play the bad guy in his first film role since Drug Connection (1993).
Ninja Assassin isn't going to win any awards for it's intellectual storytelling although it does try to give it's main Ninja character's a bit of depth, it's the gloriously gory, violent & stylish martial arts fights where Ninja Assassin really delivers the good. The Blu-ray looks great too, by the way.
This American & German co-production was directed by James McTeigue & if you want lots of bloody Ninja fighting action & martial arts moves then Ninja Assassin is the film you need to see, if your a Ninja, martial arts or action film fan then it's very hard not to like Ninja Assassin. First of all the plot isn't anything groundbreaking, a superhuman Ninja assassin decides killing people isn't the life for him so turns against his master & clan & sets out to put an end to the Ozu Ninja assassins. The first half of Ninja Assassin is split between the present day action of Europol agent Mika uncovering the existence of the Ozu Ninja & flashbacks from Raizo chronicling his brutal training & the events that had lead up to the present situation, I will certainly give the script credit for trying to inject some heart & feeling into the Ninja & giving him some proper strong reasons for his bloody revenge even if it is still a little simplistic. At 100 odd minutes the pace is good & the second half features some truly spectacular Ninja & martial arts fights the likes of which I can't remember seeing before. I did question the climax somewhat though, how did Mika get Raizo to swallow that homing device? Why did Europol turn up at the motel if the homing device was on Raizo? How did Mika know the Ozu Ninja would just take Raizo rather than kill him & her there & then? I suppose you could come up with plausible answers for these questions though so it's not a deal breaker or a film killer.
I watched Ninja Assassin on Blu-ray last night & it looked mightily impressive, the Blu-ray also features a few deleted scenes which expand on the investigation by Mika a little bit but nothing major was cut. Where Ninja Assassin excels is with it's fight scenes, there are some fantastically cool martial arts scenes here from the Ozu Ninja attacking a Europol building to a great fight on a road with speeding cars zooming past the fighters to the climax set inside a burning dojo with embers floating in the air everywhere as sworn enemies fight to scenes of Raizo slicing the bad guy's up with a razor sharp blade on the end of a long chain. Ninja Assassin is probably as good as the final Ninja scene from Tarantino's Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) only in colour so the copious amounts of blood splatter can be seen in it's full glory. Make no mistake about it Ninja Assassin is maybe the goriest big budget Hollywood flick to get a theatrical release, heads are chopped in half, bodies are cut in half, arms, legs, fingers & heads are severed, people are stabbed, cut, chopped up & the amount of blood is often quite staggering. I also liked how the makers made the Ninja assassins of stealth who moved silently through the shadows & only show glimpses of them for the first few action scenes. There are plenty of cool poses & stylised action moves to keep one entertained & amused, some of the Ninja weaponry is cool too with some seriously dangerous looking Shruiken.
With a supposed budget of about $40,000,000 this is very well made, even on high definition Blu-ray the CGI blood looked alright, actually filmed in Berlin in Germany. The acting is fine, Rain is apparently a Korean pop star but does look the part here & he obviously trained hard. Shô Kosugi comes out of retirement to play the bad guy in his first film role since Drug Connection (1993).
Ninja Assassin isn't going to win any awards for it's intellectual storytelling although it does try to give it's main Ninja character's a bit of depth, it's the gloriously gory, violent & stylish martial arts fights where Ninja Assassin really delivers the good. The Blu-ray looks great too, by the way.