Ninja Assassin (Movie Review)

Ninja Assassin grabbed me with it's visually exciting trailer and the fact the that Wachowski brothers were producing. But they should have stuck to just making the trailer this time.

Fans of old school martial arts movies with there unrealistic violence (guy gets stabbed 10 times and keeps on fighting like nothing happened) will enjoy this throwback that that level of realism. With a lot of action and blood spraying everywhere, this is a visually intense movie. At first. But the shocking combat violence that starts the movie and had me on the edge of my seat gave way to repetitive CGI blood splattering that was over the top, fake and devoid of emotional intensity. How many times can you really be shocked by a pint of blood squirting out of a single wound? Add to this the fact that the blood looks extremely digital and you've got an experience that seems to be shooting for "style over substance", but doesn't even quite get that right.

I will say that many of the action scenes are a real pleasure to watch, despite the blood FX. The cast is composed of people who can execute fight scenes extremely well and the movie shines in this department. If you want some cool, violent, ninja action, you won't want to miss this flick. Sound effects and complimentary CGI give the action some comic book, over the top flavor that is mostly cool, rather than fake. (But yeah, still a little fake.)

Anything beyond that will likely escape you, however. The script, despite being co-written by comic book giant J. Michael Straczynski, drops the ball by giving us an unneeded b-plot that centers on a female international police-type person investigating the hidden world of Ninjas. She is naturally caught up in a dangerous world she had no idea existed and blah blah blah... Her character is never given any substance and so I couldn't have cared less about what was happening to her. They would have done much better to spend more time on the protagonist. A Ninja who defected from his clan of assassins and is now on the run from them. His back-story had far greater potential and some very good moments. Straczynski's comic book banter came through with a few cute one-liners, but the actors didn't seem to know what to do with them, making them feel out of character and out of place for the movie.

The cast, as I mentioned, is composed of many very good stuntmen, but no strong actors. The "B-plot" actors did alright much of the time, but gave me no reason to invest in them. Our "good-guy ninja" had little personality, but a good plot thread to keep me interested.

This movie is highly unlikely to lead to worthwhile conversation. One character briefly states that "everything has a heart", even plants and trees. This, along with obvious elements of revenge and a misguided sense of "honor" in the Ninja clan might act as springboards for conversation, but the movie is not written well enough to provoke any significant thought and is ultimately a fun but forgettable experience.

Rated R for strong bloody stylized violence throughout, and language

Quality: 7.0/10

Relevance: 5.0/10