Review of Ninja (2009) by Douglas P — 15 Mar 2010

Ninja is the story of pale-face Casey (wooden-acted by Scott Adkins) who, as an abandoned orphan, was picked up by a Ninja dojo where he was raised and trained in the art of Ninjutsu for many years. His training leads the final competition where he and rival student Tsuyoshi Ihara compete for the role of new Sensei of the dojo.

Naturally, rival student is overcome with destroying pale-face, goes mad, gets kicked out of dojo, becomes vengeful ninja assassin for hire that kills for money, but then comes to exact revenge on dojo and steal the legendary Yoroi Bitsu, a coveted chest carrying the mystical weapons of the last Koga Ninja.

Before he can do that, pale-face and girlfriend flee with the chest to New York, where they are followed by the vicious ninja who is being helped by a secret society of thugs that are funded by the corporate villain of the film.

Lots of karate chops and kicks ensue. Ultimately, Ninja attempts to bring back those awesomely bad 80's kung fu films, but thanks to its striking resemblance towards Beverly Hills Ninja, this film falls closer to the bad side rather than awesome.

Thanks to director Isaac Florentine, he manages to make the film passable with all of the karate action/violence throughout, but thanks to writers Boaz Davidson (Octopus 2: River of Fear...ugh) and Michael Hurst (Mansquito.

..ugh), this story reeks. Want to see a similar film that manages to succeed...watch Ninja Assassin. All the fun and popcorn entertainment you could ask for, unlike this film.