Review of Ninja Assassin (2009) by Marc L — 27 Jun 2011

You know, in all honesty, I like this movie. I like the character development, I loved the acting, I like the fight choreography, I thought it was a good movie. However, there were quite a few things that I didn't like.

I'll start with the negative. First of all, if someone tells you this movie is really bloody, they are absolutely right. I didn't like the excessive amount of blood and gore, and it remains the only movie where I almost threw up. This is the bloodiest and most disturbing movie I have seen or ever will see. Be warned that if you see this movie, you will see ripped out internal organs, bloody decapitations and God knows what else. It is absolutely NOT for everyone.

Also I felt the movie didn't give us enough background information. Even at the end, there's a lot of stuff we don't know. What was Raizo like before he was kidnapped as a child? What is Lord Ozunu's backstory? What did the remaining ninja clans do at the end? What is Aleksei Sabatin's backstory? We never get answers.

As much negative as there is, there is also plenty of positive. First of all, the acting was amazing, some of the best I've seen from a below 50% movie. Rain, Naomi Harris and Sho Kosugi were especially good, doing a very realistic job.

The characters are also very developed too. Raizo is a complicated character. At first glance, he seems cruel and cold, but as we know him better, we realize that he actually has a kind and sensitive side.

The fight choreography was amazing. It looked less like it was fake and more like a real fight. It was all so fast paced and harsh. The fight scene in the apartment is one of the best sword fights I've ever seen.

Over all, for all this movies faults I enjoyed it. It's definitley not a movie you would want to show your date, and definatley not a movie you want to show your children, but it's still alright. It's not perfect, but it's fun and well acted, all that the story demands really.