Ninja Assassin Review

Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 11.26.2009

The title pretty much says it all.

Directed by: James McTeigue
Written by: Matthew Sand & J. Michael Straczynski

Starring:
Rain - Raizo
Naomie Harris - Mika Coretti
Sho Kosugi - Lord Ozunu
Ben Miles - Ryan Maslow
Rick Yune - Takeshi
Joon - Young Raizo
Kylie Liya Goldstein - Young Kiriko
Eleonore Weisgerber - Mrs. Sabatin
Wladimir Tarasjanz - Aleksei Sabatin



Running Time: 99 minutes
Rated R for strong bloody stylized violence throughout, and language.

Ninjas have long been a subject of interest to people. The elusive and secret Japanese covert agents have very few actual historical references, shrouding them in a level of mystery that naturally draws curiosity. The image of a black-clad, masked dealer of death wielding a katana and shuriken is an iconic one that nearly anyone will immediately recognize. As such, the ninja have found themselves pervading popular culture for years. Besides being very common stock characters in Japanese pop culture, they have often shown up in American culture as well, whether in books, role-playing games, comic books, television, video games and of course film. Ninjas have played a major role in films from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra to Batman Begins, and that's just for starters. It is no surprise then whenever a film featuring them makes its way to screen. Case in point: Ninja Assassin. Coming in just in time for Thanksgiving, the film stars Korean pop star Rain, Naomie Harris, Sho Kosugi and Ben Miles and seeks to wring as much blood out of the holiday box office as it does on-screen.

The film stars Rain as Raizo, a disgraced member of the Ozunu clan. Raizo was, like all of his former brethren in the clan, stolen from birth from an orphanage and raised in the brutal, secretive and quasi-mystical ways of the ninja. When (as we learn in flashbacks) he parted company after refusing to kill someone who tried to leave the clan, he became marked for death. He has been pursuing vengeance ever since. That opportunity comes when Europol forensic researcher Mika Coretti (Harris) finally manages to convince her boss (Miles) to begin looking into the involvement of ninjas in assassinations around the world. That investigation puts Mika in danger, and quickly to the rescue comes Raizo. The two strike an agreement to work together but must contend not only with the Ozunu clan's deadly foot soldiers, but their influence that comes to bear from the highest levels of Europol. Wrapped up in a deadly cat-and-mouse game, the two must learn to trust each other as they try to bring down the Ozunu clan for their own reasons: justice or revenge.

Ninja Assassin was written by first-time screenwriter Matthew Sand, with a last-minute rewrite job from Changeling scribe J. Michael Straczynski. One wonders how much scripting was really necessary for this film, as the plot is merely window-dressing for the action sequences the movie is selling itself on. In truth, the plot is serviceable enough, though unsurprisingly and unrepentantly silly. The early parts of the movie stray into flashbacks of Raizo's youth and brutal upbringing at the training house too often. We learn about his young puppy-love romance with Kiriko (Goldstein), a fellow trainee who seems ill-fitted for the harsh shinobi code, and in these moments the plot seems to stray into melodrama that isn't needed. It is important to go through these moments to set up the plot, but it seems to rely too heavily on these for exposition when a cleaner story would suffice. Similarly, the story involving Mika's superiors works for what is needed but there seems to be a bit too much put into the double- and triple-crossing going on there. This is a situation where less could have been more, and the reliance on these moments causes the film to slow down a few too many times. The script never pushes it so far as to make it unwatchable, and there's certainly no attempt to sell it as a character piece or anything more than what it is. Several of the characters scoff at the idea of ninjas being a legitimate threat, either to them or to the world at large. In that self-acceptance, much like with Punisher: War Zone or Snakes on a Plane, there is a freedom that is gained and it usually works. At the same time, there are just enough character-building moments that actually work to make the main characters more than cardboard cutouts.

The key with a film like this is finding a lead actor who can carry the role with finesse. Rain is no Oscar-worthy talent, but he does have the charisma and presence needed to carry the film. Rain previously appeared on-screen in the Wachowski Brothers' Speed Racer and that role likely led to his casting here. Rain isn't being expected to do any serious acting and thus he's able to give us just enough to believe there may be something to this guy. An accomplished dancer, he handles the martial arts scenes well enough, though one gets the feel that perhaps they were choreographed a bit more than it would need to be for a more accomplished martial artist. Opposite Rain, Naomie Harris works well enough in her role as the in-over-her-head forensic investigator who has to learn how to survive with an army of shadowy killers coming down on her head. Harris has proved herself capable in genre films like 28 Days Later and big-budget blockbusters like the Pirates of the Caribbean films, but she never feels like she's slumming it here. The rest of the acting is largely forgettable, with Ben Miles playing the stock character of the disbelieving but trusting superior unremarkably and the cast of ninjas being as faceless as they need to be.

Of course, the key thing that is going to bring people into the theater to see this movie is the ninja fights. Director James McTeigue stages these fights with unrelenting over-the-top violence, punctuated by limbs flying and gallons of CGI blood. The fight scenes are constant and sometimes fall into an unfortunate tendency for quick cuts, but luckily that tendency is kept to a relative minimum. Of course, these being ninja they are fighting in the darkness, and there is one relatively brief fight in Mika's apartment between Raizo and another ninja that is almost frustrating in the poor lighting of it. Otherwise though, the fight scenes work very well, and are so blatantly gratuitous that one can't help but sit back and enjoy them. The "cool" factor is high on this one, featuring ninja killing trained Europol operatives and battles taking place through busy streets. Certainly, if one thinks about the logic of all of this it all falls apart. But this is not a movie where logic holds sway, and it pretty much broadcasts that from the opening moments. Instead, it's just fun to sit back and watch as Raizo uses his kusarigama to cut through villain after villain, all the way on his path of vengeance toward Lord Ozunu. By the time the third act bursts into action, with Europol agents using automatic weapons and rocket launchers against the blade- and shuriken-wielding assassins, it is clear to see how much fun can be had in ludicrous action.

Of course, it helps that McTeigue is a skilled action-stager and has a strong sense of visuals. Other than the few frustrating sequences due to lighting, McTeigue handles the scenes with panache and gives us some striking visuals. Particularly effective is the finale, set within a burning dojo. McTeigue knows how to handle this movie to maximum effectiveness and while he has a couple of problems keeping the story from getting in the way of the fun, he handles himself admirably here. This is no V For Vendetta but it doesn't have to be; it just has to be fun and violent, which is exactly what we get.

The 411: Audiences are getting exactly what they pay for with Ninja Assassin, an unrelentingly violent and over-the-top action film that makes the most out of the fun it can wring out. Rain and Naomie Harris don't put themselves in contention any acting awards here but do fine, and the action scenes are handled with enough skill by James McTeigue to be fun and exciting. Anyone who comes into this movie expecting a compelling story will be disappointed, as the multiple flashbacks and overdone Europol intrigue don't fit quite right and keep this movie just a bit lower than films like Punisher: War Zone. But those who go in looking for a good, fun action movie without any pretensions for being cinematic gold will walk away quite satisfied.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]