Review: NINJA ASSASSIN

James McTeigue first brought us a film that is easily in my top 50 films all time, V FOR VENDETTA. Now he is back but this time with a ninja who is aiming to kill everyone who gets in his way of seeking revenge against the 9 ancient ninja clans.

Let me first tell you that this movie isn’t perfect, but it doesn’t have to be…since few films are perfect these days. What James McTeigue has created a very fun, entertaining and beautifully violent film that has great rewatchability and will leave you begging for more.

There are basically 3 stories in this film, a badass story of how Raizo(Rain) becomes a ninja, how he is now trying to defeat his old clan, and of course a love story. The film could have easily done without the love story, but then it probably wouldn’t have been released under the WB banner and instead suffered some sort of limited crappy release so we will forgive it for that.

Lets start from the beginning, the opening scene features Hollywood(Sung Kang) getting tattooed by an old monk who is doing it the ancient Japanese way, by hammer. Surrounded by his gang of Asian thugs, a letter is delivered which features nothing but black sand. The monk goes on to tell them what happened the last time he saw a letter filled with black sand and from this point forward the ass kicking begins. All of the gang members start being brutally murdered by swords, throwing stars and numerous other blades that splatter the CGI blood all over the screen. Everyone in this scene dies and we get a glimpse of whats to come.

From here we get the story of Raizo from first being introduced to his “brothers and sisters” in the Ozunu Clan, his training to become a ninja and eventually going out to do assassinations. During this part of the story we get misc bits of the love story background tossed in and we see Raizo save the woman in distress, which in this movie is a Euro-pol agent Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris). She is targeted for assassination after uncovering a link between the clans and the government who had been paying the clans to perform killings for hundreds of years. Raizo comes in to help save Mika from being murdered and a bond forms. Its a typical love story, but with a badass ninja twist.

I will say that I was very surprised by Rain’s martial arts skills. Watching this film you would never know this guy doubles as a pop star when he isnt kicking ass.

There is some very badass action, some incredible fight scenes and more blood than you could possibly know what to do with. This is easily one of the greatest ninja movies ever created. I know, i know, a lot of people have a big problem with the CGI blood but seriously…get the hell over it! McTeigue intended this film to be more animated and the CGI blood does a great job of helping achieve that. Most of the things they do in the movie requires you to step away from reality, sort of like other films the Wachowski brothers have worked on.

If you haven’t already then go check out our interview with James McTeigue then jump over and watch it to get a better feel for what he intended for the film.

If you go into this movie expecting a fun and entertaining experience you will leave a very happy camper. If you go in expecting to have a mind blowing, life changing experience you might not be so happy.