Kung-fu movies have been a staple of drive-in cinema for years. The tales of men with exciting hand to hand combat skills have tore up the box office as they tore apart each other. Films that were made in the Orient, dubbed in English and splashed over the night sky cinema were a fixture from decades ago. Now, most of these films go direct to DVD. Though, every once in awhile a film is of such an extraordinary nature that it gets a major theatrical release. Such is the chop-socky action flick Ninja Assassin.
The movie opens with a young crime boss getting a tattoo on his back. A letter is delivered and out pours black sand. The old tattoo artist becomes startled. It is an omen calling card for a ninja attack. Suddenly the gang is attacked on all sides by a group of shadows, moving more like ghosts than men. After a splattering orgy of blood and body parts, the opening credits roll just as the heads roll.
Then comes the story–Europol agent Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris) has been a part of investigating a series of political murders that have been happening for over a hundred years. She finds a link between the exact dollar amount of 100 pounds of gold being transferred right before each murder. This poundage of gold is exactly what a clan of ninjas want to perform a professional kill. Her boss Ryan Maslow (Ben Miles) believes in the idea of these assassins, wanting to bring the men to justice. Almost instantly, they discover that they are being watched by someone who has connections within the agency.
On the other side of the plot, Raizo (pop star Rain) has been hiding from the ninja for years. We discover his back story. He was an orphan who was taught the ways of stealth and fighting by a ninja master and teacher for the Ozunu Clan. The kids are trained with the mantra of ‘suffering exists because weakness exists’. One neat little trick they learn is self-healing in a mind over body exercise. The children become heartless killing machines and Raizo defies this idea, which makes him a marked man. Raizo was once in love and the ninja took his beloved away. He keeps his skills in sharp focus for his day of revenge.
Mika begins investigating the Ozunu group which leads her to Raizo. At first, she believes that he is the bad guy. Soon she is convinced of his innocent nature and decides to take him to Ryan. Unfortunately Ryan doesn’t believe that our guy Raizo is so innocent and captures him. This brings down a ninja hoard on the Europol agents. In white knight fashion, our hero saves the girl and has to do serious weapon-clanging battles to save all that is good from all that is bad.
First and foremost, there is a new star on the horizon and his name is Rain. This former boy-band singer delivers a performance that is as stoic as Clint Eastwood and nimble as Bruce Lee. Rain just rains across the screen, giving death blow after death blow, yet he seldom shows more than bothered disdain in his situation. This character could easily be made into a series of films and Rain could be the next big thing in action stars.
Both Naomie Harris and Ben Miles come across more as stock characters from casting central, just cogs to keep the actions moving from point A to point B. Both are competent but never give an outstanding reading. But Rick Yune who plays Takeshi of the Ozuna Clan chews every scene he’s in with a seldom seen relish. His barking snarl is just part of a wonderful over the top performance.
Director James McTeigue takes the paint by number script by Matthew Sand and J. Michael Straczynski and puts it through all the paces, giving the niche audience just want it wants, gallons and gallons of CGI blood. This film has almost as many decapitated bodies as a Rambo flick. The movie is more like Shoot’em Up, something not for the faint of heart. Many of the theater patrons winced more than once while actors were turned into human puree.
A little flick like Ninja Assassin will never win any awards but it sure is a great waste of a few hours. It is all action, a check your brain at the door kind of cinema experience. It has all the elements of a drive-in style flick but with all the modern tricks of the special effects trade. In the final analysis, Ninja Assassin becomes just a fun little experience.
