Review of Ninja (2009) by Cory C — 13 Apr 2011

Isaac Florentine has become the top director for creating direct to DVD martial arts films thanks to the excellent Undisputed series. He has teamed up lead actor Scott Adkins again to create his latest entertaining martial arts effort entitled Ninja, yet again a straight to DVD effort.

The plot focuses on an orphaned Westerner named Casey who is studying Ninjutsu and a dojo in Japan. Masazuka, his main rival to replace the retiring Sensei of the dojo, is expelled for starting a fight on Casey which leads to him moving to America to become an assassin for hire. Masazuka has not given up the hope of becoming Sensei as he feels it is his right which leads to him devising a plan to steal the legendary Yoroi Bitsu, an armored chest that contains the weapons of the last Koga Ninja and thus enabling to become Sensei of the dojo. Casey is tasked with bringing the Yoroi Bitsu to New York in order to keep them safe from Masazuka but he is unable to keep it secret leading to a battle between to Ninja's on the streets of New York.

In all honesty, the plot for Ninja is pretty poor and offers nothing new to the genre at all. That being said, anyone who watches this film will do so for one reason only; to watch the countless martial arts action scenes unfold. There is little doubt that Florentine knows how to choreograph a good fight scene and the fights in Ninja are certainly entertaining but an overuse of slow motion and an unimposing bad guy make them not nearly as intense as the Undisputed series. Unfortunately there is also a large portion of the second act that is almost entirely devoid of action and instead focuses on plot development. When said plot is as poor as the one in Ninja then this is definitely not a good idea and ultimately the drags the fun factor of the film down. The last half hour is where it's at its best though as the action is non-stop and provides great entertainment. Adkins is excellent in the lead role when he isn't speaking but Tsuyoshi Ihara as Masazuka isn't physically imposing enough and ends up being a little unbelievable in his role. The final fight is a little short and not nearly as good as what came before it but is still good enough to entertain.

Although extremely silly at times and with a wholly unoriginal plot, Ninja is still a fun watch and manages to provide solid entertainment for most of its running time. Just be prepared for the slow paced midsection which teeters on the edge of boredom.