Review: Ninja Assassin

Naomie Harris is Mika, a Europol agent in Berlin researching the existence of ninja in modern day society, having carried out assassinations for centuries (so long as the price is right), whilst still maintaining a shadowy existence. Her investigation earns her the notice of a particularly nasty clan called Ozu who have targeted her for assassination. Aide comes in the form of Raizo (Rain), a former member of the Ozu clan of ninja (an orphan, he was taken in and trained by the clan as a boy), who left the fold after his evil sensei Lord Ozuno (Sho Kosugi- who else?) killed his beloved. Rick Yune plays Takeshi, another star pupil of Ozuno’s, who is sent after Raizo and Mika.

“Ninja”, starring the impressive Scott Adkins disappointed me greatly, so I was relieved that this 2009 James McTeigue ninja film (the interesting “V For Vendetta”) got something right that “Ninja” failed on: It features plenty of ninja throughout the film, and is a better film overall (It’s impossible not to want to compare the two as they’re both ninja films that came out at around the same time). That said, the film still has serious problems of its own, including a lot of actors struggling with a language (English) that is not their first language, and which they are either not fluent in, or expressive in. That is to say that speaking a language well and giving an expressive performance in said language are two different skills. Legendary martial-arts star Sho Kosugi (whose “Revenge of the Ninja” still stands as one of the best ninja films of all-time, even if it did come from The Cannon Group) is actually among the weakest English speakers in the cast, struggling a bit as the elderly bad guy. Meanwhile, the scenes involving Europol agent Harris are superfluous padding, and rather dull (Her whole character is basically a combination of plot point and bewildered observer. Maybe even a bit of a MacGuffin too). The flashback scenes are far too plentiful, but at least they’re more interesting than Harris’ scenes in Berlin. Yes, that’s right, we’ve got another ninja film that is set outside of Asia for the most part (thankfully it’s not as needlessly globe-trotting as “Ninja”, though).

What this film does do right, is in the action and violence department. Calling this film ‘uber-bloody’ would be an understatement, as the CGI blood splatters every which way possible. The opening scene is also the film’s best, as we are treated to one of the best decapitations I’ve ever seen in my whole life, followed by a guy getting his arms ripped the hell off. It’s a helluva opener, like it or not. The CGI blood is at least better than usual (At least it ain’t purple, like in “Blade”).  It’s true that the action, and the film itself, never improves upon this opening scene, but the rest of the action is still better than anything in “Ninja”. We get a lot of martial-arts training scenes like in “Ninja”, but at least this one gives us the goods too. There’s a nice, bloody fight that ends up on a busy street and finishes with a bang, as well. Ninja stars are and always will be frigging awesome, as this film proves, with the little buggers getting thrown out at a machine-gun rate.

When the film is good and bloody, it’s bloody good. Director McTeigue certainly is a strong visual stylist, if nothing else. Otherwise it’s watchable at best, but that still puts it ahead of “Ninja”, which was pretty dull. I’m not so keen on the fight in the Laundromat, though, as we hear a bunch of sounds like it’s a sword fight, when no weapons are actually being used. Does everyone in this film bleed way too much? Yes, in fact it has perhaps one of the highest body counts of all-time, including women and children. Oh, that’s a bad thing? Then why was I grinning from ear to ear? Some might be put off by the scenes of young kids going through a gruelling (read: borderline abusive) martial-arts training process, but I think it gives the film a nice, harsh edge. The cinematography by Karl Walter Lindenlaub (a regular of Roland Emmerich films like “Universal Soldier”, “Stargate”, and “ID4”) deserves credit for finding a way to keep the ninja somewhat shadowy without making the action on screen hard to see. Apparently many disagree with me on this point, but I honestly had no issues with the lighting. There’s also some really gorgeous shots, and I’m not just talking about all the red stuff- though that has a grotesque kind of beauty too. Lead actor Rain isn’t all that impressive an actor, and unfortunately whispers a bit too much. However, Rick Yune is terrific as the lead villain. He’s charismatic and a much better speaker of English (He’s American, for starters), to the point where I wish he were in the hero role.

The blood-soaked action kept me awake, but there’s no doubt that this is still a flawed film, with a plot not even all that different from “Ninja”, when you think about it (not to mention the underrated and little seen live-action “Crying Freeman”, with Mark Dacascos), with the only big difference being that the sensei is evil this time. Paring down the flashback scenes and Harris’ scenes would’ve improved things greatly. The mid-section in particular, is far too talky.

If you combined the best parts of this with the best parts of “Ninja”, you’d have a damn good ninja film. As is, this is watchable stuff, especially if you like your ninja films bloody and populated by...um...ninja. The film was produced by uber action movie producer Joel Silver (“Commando”, “Predator”, “Lethal Weapon”, “Die Hard”, “The Matrix”) and the Wachowskis (“Bound”, “The Matrix”), who all worked together with McTeigue on “V For Vendetta”.

Rating: C+