I love ninjas. And I love ninja movies. Enough to make a short one of my own. Here’s my ninja movie Mt. Rushmore (aka top-4 but Bill Simmons has been a big part of my November so i thought I’d steal the term): Three Ninjas, American Ninja, Ninja Scroll, and Ninja Assassin. That’s also my list of ninja movies that I can name off the top of my head.
Really though, it’s a shame that there’s no serious ninja movie with a great story and great characters. It doesn’t seem out of the question, considering how interesting the culture is with different clans and whatnot. The action would be somewhere between the realism of the ninja invasion scene in The Last Samurai and the supernatural abilities of the ninjas in Ninja Assassin.
Anyway, I guess I should say something about Ninja Assassin since this is my review. It’s violent. (Think Alien vs. Predator 2. Oh wait nobody else watched that. Think new Rambo.). The story’s not great. The fight sequences are awesome. And you probably should’ve expected all of that coming in. More workout scenes would be welcome! They’re actually pretty cool and they could show Raizo training with more weapons. I guess I should call them adult ninja training scenes to sound less suspect.
On another note, I just went to IMDB to see how to spell “Raizo” and scrolled down to the message board posts (always a bad idea). Someone is disappointed that they took Rain (huge in Asia) and put him in a stereotypical role as a martial artist instead of a serious role. He’s not exactly gonna pass as Billy Costigan. Not to mention he wasn’t held at gunpoint and forced into months of filming. Man do I hate those message boards.
Back on track. If you liked the new Rambo and you like ninjas you’ll love Ninja Assassin. I still can’t get over the post-release commercials saying, “Some critics have called Ninjas Assassin… ‘Exciting’.” Sold.