Empire's Ninja Assassin Movie Review

Ninja Assassin
Silent but deadly

Plot
Raizo (Rain) has turned his back on the ninjas who raised him and trained him as an assassin, but he teams up with an Interpol agent (Harris) to track down his former family and stop their evil ways.

Review

Nurtured on the wave of 1980s ninja flicks, the Wachowskis and McTeigue revisit that B-movie realm with an A-grade effects budget and an Asian superstar, Korean popstrel Rain (Speed Racer), who they cast as Raizo, a ruthless killer raised by the Ozunu clan but sworn to exact vengeance upon them. While the mixed martial arts proffer plenty of limb-lopping, and at least one very literal ‘face-off’, the choreography is a little drab, and even murky at times.

With gallons of slick CGI gore, the filmmakers seek a graphic-novel-meets-computer-game feel, and that’s what they achieve; with the rice paper-thin characters, however, it’s more Ninja Gaiden than V For Vendetta.

Verdict

Reviewed by Will Lawrence

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Average user rating for Ninja Assassin


Excellent. ... More


Posted by reminn at 12:15, 03 November 2010 \| Report This Post



Don't say the word
Ninja assassin overall drifts between the realms of watchable to tiresome. At times, you are settling into the action flick, but not without having to toss and turn in your seat, making the experience a difficult one. Raizo doesn't speak much, but when he does, I keep thinking to myself this is the Korean Christopher Lambert. True, the comparison in tonal accentuation is barely a match by any means, but if he had more dialogue and an unusual accent, not only would Ninja Assassin have been a... More


Posted by qapsapper at 22:43, 04 April 2010 \| Report This Post




A trained assassin breaks free from the organization that trained him to get revenge for the murder of his true love. A brilliant (and very bloody) opening gives way to some very dull and monotonous fight scenes, and lots of very fake looking blood. Rain looks very attractive but that cant hide his lack of acting talent ... More


Posted by duncan1964 at 09:25, 10 February 2010 \| Report This Post




A trained assassin breaks free from the organization that trained him to get revenge for the murder of his true love. A brilliant (and very bloody) opening gives way to some very dull and monotonous fight scenes, and lots of very fake looking blood. Rain looks very attractive but that cant hide his lack of acting talent ... More


Posted by duncan1964 at 09:25, 10 February 2010 \| Report This Post



Cliched
My boyfriend made me watch it and I was very reluctant given the poo reviews. It was cliched but not as hideous as I thought it would be. That's all I can say as a female. ... More


Posted by kristyw at 22:28, 06 February 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: Ninja Assassin
Ignore the naysayers, this is a pretty entertaining and sometimes exhilirating martial arts romp that is probably the best film made in the west about ninjas course it's full of the cliches that one often finds in films of this genre and it seems like some of the early scenes involving our heroine and her partner have been truncated. Nonetheless ,it moves fast, has the odd surprise in the tale, and the action is almost non stop and benefits from superb choreography with some terrific skill on ... More


Posted by Dr Lenera at 22:54, 03 February 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: Ninja Assassin
L: homersimpson_esq Now, two names need to be mentioned. The first name is Wachowski. I tend to view a film as the work of its creative inputters. In this case, James McTeigue and Matthew Sand. The former being the director, and the latter him what wrote the story. Now McTeigue's career has been entwined with that of the Wachowskis, working as second unit director or assistant director on their later films, and directing endettalm which I actually genuinely enjoyed.) Now I made no secret ... More

Posted by sam89 at 17:02, 27 January 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: Ninja Assassin
L: max314 Yo, yo, yo!! Arial"]Yo max! it's about time you showed up! glad you liked NINJA ASSASSIN as much as I did. you're quite right, a lot of the action scenes will play much better when we're kicking back and enjoying the blu-ray.] ... More

Posted by Snake-Eyes at 10:45, 27 January 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: Ninja Assassin
Class review homer. hank you for steering me well clear of this apparent turd. ... More

Posted by shool at 10:32, 27 January 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: Ninja Assassin
Yo, yo, yo!! I don't have a lot of time these days, so I'm not gonna give a full review just yet, but I will say that I had a fun time watching this. Ironically, the action wasn't quite as good as I expected (though still extremely entertaining), and the story was actually a lot /i] than I was expecting. So it ended up being a damn good time. Stuff like: - Raizo's backstory with the female ninja; - Being able to hear heartbeats; - Mika's heart being 'special'; ... More

Posted by max314 at 02:43, 27 January 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: Ninja Assassin
eview Homer. I didn't think it was appalling. Just a 'leave brain at door' sign would have been necessary. It was alright; the blood thing got on my nerves though, it was like a sh*te attempt at the CGI blood Kitano used in Zatoichi (which is an infinitely better film, that also has swords and fighting in the dark). But since when can ninjas move faster than the speed of sound? Don't worry, I'll desist from picking any more plot holes. If you like naff action films, you'd probably enjoy th... More

Posted by hiptobesquare_x at 22:34, 26 January 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: Ninja Assassin
Back at the start of 2007, I watched my first of the new breed of 3D films. Touted as the technology of the future, the effects themselves were astounding, if the film itself was distinctly lacking. Whether or not 3D is the future is still very much in question, even with Cameron's latest /i] still breaking box office records. The film I watched was, of course, Zemeckis' he review I gave of that film was scathing to say the least. And yet ishingly shit as it was, shines lack a beacon of Godardi... More

Posted by homersimpson_esq at 22:24, 26 January 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: Ninja Assassin
Gets popcorn ready for review This is reminding me of my reaction, and subsequent review, of Wolverine. ... More

Posted by Rgirvan44 at 14:53, 26 January 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: Ninja Assassin
Mozza, give me time, when I finish work, and I'll be giving a blow-by-blow on exactly what was wrong with the film. It'll be a long review because, well, there was a lot wrong with it. And I'm understating the issue somewhat. There's no "righteous fanboy-esque indignation" here. Just someone who felt that the film was worse than expected. And I expected nothing at all. ... More

Posted by homersimpson_esq at 14:51, 26 January 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: Ninja Assassin
L: homersimpson_esq .......the pisspuke result would still be infinitely more watchable than any single thing the creators of this film could ever hope to achieve. our pisspuke is more watchable than V for Vendetta and The Matrix??? !quote]ORIGINAL: Mozza Dontcha just love righteous fanboy-esque indignation, with no attempt to engage on what was wrong with the film? ccording to a similar post of Homer's in Future Films we can expect a full review later tonight. ... More

Posted by paulyboy at 14:50, 26 January 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: Ninja Assassin
L: homersimpson_esq If I took the admittedly pitifully few martial arts films I own, ground them up into tiny pieces, pissed on it, drank the mixture, vomited the whole lot back out, and attempted to piece said DVDs back together into a viewable format, the pisspuke result would still be infinitely more watchable than any single thing the creators of this film could ever hope to achieve. ontcha just love righteous fanboy-esque indignation, with no attempt to engage on what was wrong ... More


Posted by Mozza at 14:17, 26 January 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: Ninja Assassin
If I took the admittedly pitifully few martial arts films I own, ground them up into tiny pieces, pissed on it, drank the mixture, vomited the whole lot back out, and attempted to piece said DVDs back together into a viewable format, the pisspuke result would still be infinitely more watchable than any single thing the creators of this film could ever hope to achieve. ... More

Posted by homersimpson_esq at 13:43, 26 January 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: Ninja Assassin
Spoilers! It was ok. I have two main critisisms however; 1. The story was straight to video arse and not really invlolving in any way shape or form. Granted I felt rather sorry for Raizo when his bird was impaled as a teenager, but that aside I was never invested in proceedings even in the slightest. 2. The fight scenes. Now, I get what they've tried to do here with the Ninjas mystically appearing in and out of the shadows like things that go bump in the night and it's handle... More


Posted by paulyboy at 10:46, 25 January 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: Ninja Assassin
Ninja Assassin has finally reached UK cinemas. Finished work early, went for a chinese with my colleagues, got drunk, met another friend and we went to see the film. Maybe the drink helped... but I thought Ninja Assassin was totally beep awesome! Don't get me wrong. If you break this film down it's actually not very good on any level. The story is pants. The acting is standard. The fight scenes lack grace. BUT! And it's a BIG but. ... It's roughly 90 ... More

Posted by MoBiUGeArSkIn at 13:17, 23 January 2010 \| Report This Post



Stylised gore is about as good as it gets.
Ninja Assassin tells the story of Raizo - played by Korean superstar Rain - an assassin for the legendary Ozunu Clan. Raised there from a young age, he escapes following an unwarranted execution of Kiriko - his potential piece of ass - and vows revenge. In Berlin, with the reluctant help of agent Maslow - Coupling's Ben Miles, agent Mika Coretti - Naomie Harris - stumbles upon political evidence surrounding the supposedly non-existent Clan, making her a target in the process. Raizo save... More


Posted by grandad_rules at 23:48, 22 January 2010 \| Report This Post



Meh.
I never would've expected to sum up a movie about ninjas with the word "meh", but it fits. I'm pretty sure half the plot was missing with regards to why that male Europol agent is being investigated so heavily when he starts sniffing about the Ozuno clan. Also, there are some cool moments with ninjas coming out of the shadows, but then it just abandons any attempt at realism by having them literally vanish into thin air or magically healing their own deep wounds within moments. And,... More


Posted by sowasred2012 at 10:29, 22 January 2010 \| Report This Post

Ninja AssassinSilent but deadly

Ninja Assassin
Silent but deadly