Ninja Assassin (2009)
Directed by James McTeigue
Written by J Michael Straczynski
Starring Rain, Naomi Harris, Rick Yune
Release Date November 25th, 2009
Published November 25th, 2009
Rain is a Korean pop star with a massive worldwide following. His bio says that he has sold out Madison Square Garden and done sold out dates in Las Vegas. In 2007 Rain was named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential people in the world. And through all of Rain's accolades I have remained completely oblivious to him.
Now, Rain has what I assume is his first starring role in an American feature film. In Ninja Assassin the back up dancer turned pop star turns action hero as an unstoppable ninja out for revenge against the clan that raised him.
As a very small child Raizo (Rain) was snatched from his birth parents and taken to a remote mountainside dojo. There, he was raised by Ozunu (Sho Kusugi) to become a Ninja Assassin. For the price of 100 pounds of gold the Ninja Assassin will kill anyone and anywhere. It's not long before Raizo shows himself to be Ozunu's top student.
Cut to Berlin where the death of an ex-KGB Agent has caught the eye of an Interpol Agent named Mika (Naomie Harris). Her investigation has lead to one conclusion, he was killed while investigating Ninjas. Naturally, her boss Maslow (Ben Miles) is more than a little skeptical of her findings.
Skepticism soons turns to belief after Mika is nearly killed by Ninjas. She was saved by Raizo who, having escaped from Ozunu's clan, has vowed to destroy his former brothers and his master.
That is a great deal more plot than anyone expected from Ninja Assassin. Don't worry, the blood soaked violence is not shoved aside for a lot of talky story stuff. Flesh is torn and blood and body parts are scattered all over the place. Trust me, if you're looking for gory sword slicing ultra-violence you will be quite satisfied with Ninja Assassin.
Director James McTeigue delivers a visceral, violent low brain, low budget gore fest that brims with hardcore violence and drips fake blood all over the place. All that is missing is digital 3D just so the audience could feel as if the blood splatter were coming right at them.
Is Ninja Assassin a great work of cinema? No, but for low budget blood and guts, Ninja Assassin offers a few thrills as a passable bit of grade Z movie making.
