Raizo (Rain - Speed Racer) had turned his back on the Ozunu clan of assassins that snatched him from the streets as a child and trained him for years in the ways of the ninja. Now he seeks to eliminate the clan for good as the renegade assassin looks to punish the Ozunu clan for their crimes. A Europol agent named Mika (Naomie Harris - Miami Vice) stumbles upon the age-old myth of assassins during an investigation into the brutal slaying of a local gang. This "myth" becomes a reality when her life comes under threat. Enter Raizo -together he and Mika look to bring the whole criminal organisation down, but with spies everywhere it won't be an easy task to accomplish.
Ninja Assassin is one crazy, blood-soaked video game of a movie thats slices and dices its way into cinemas this week. The premise is simple but effective, the student must take on the master. It's a plot almost as old as the ninja itself but boy is it fun to watch as Raizo literally rips his competition apart to get to a showdown with his old sensei.
Those of you expecting any more substance from this film just shouldn't bother going along for the ride. You will only get disappointed. This has been squarely aimed towards its target audience and for the most part it delivers for pure adrenaline-fulled carnage and action. The body count is high and the violence leans towards uber but thats what I want from a film called Ninja Assassin.
Asian superstar Rain does exceptionally well as the rogue ninja assassin after revenge. He is in incredible physical shape and needs to be to pull off some of the breathtaking stunts on show here. The final fight in a burning dojo is wonderful and really showcases Rain's skills as a martial artist. He is the closest thing we have to the next Jet Li - someone with natural charisma and verve who can handle the insane action asked of him and who could really make a name for himself in western cinema.
The other characters are all pretty forgettable except for Fast and Furious duo Sung Kang and Rick Yune in catchy supporting roles and Miami Vice's Naomie Harris who does well with an underwriiten part. Speaking of writing, Babylon 5 helmer and decorated comic book writer J. Michael Straczynski was hired by the Wachowski's to rewrite the film. He did it in just over two days and at times you can tell but you haven't paid your admission money for thoughtful prose so we will forget about the plot holes.
If there is one gripe it's with the fight sequences. Whilst they are amazing they tend to all happen very, very quickly. So quickly that its sometimes hard to make out whats happening. Mix into that the fact that most of these fights are in dimly-lit rooms and you have a great spectacle which you can't really appreciate to it's full glory. The police station scene is a perfect example of this - great action from what I could make out but mostly a haze of flying limbs and slashing swords.
Ninja Assassin delivers for sheer spectacle and action. If the action had been filmed a little less frantically, this could have been one hell of a film. Instead, it has to settle for being a enjoyable and ultra-violent showcase that will entertain and leave you wishing you were a ninja too. In Rain we trust, and on the basis of this he has a great future ahead of him - this is also why he has been hand picked for the remake of Bruce Lee's Enter The Dragon titled Awaken The Dragon. Now that really is something to look forward to!
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