Review of Ninja: Shadow of a Tear (2013) by Thegodfatherson — 31 Dec 2013

The action in Ninja: Shadow of a Tear of which there is a lot is akin to the work that Luc Besson and his cabal of French directors did in the early 2000s on The Transporter and District 13 franchises.

The fights may be set in one room, but they feel sprawling and monumental. And while Adkins isn’t quite as charismatic as Jason Statham, he is getting there. Shadow of a Tear puts the character of Casey through a number of emotional moments, all of which put Adkins’ developing range as an actor on display.

Then again, lets not lie to ourselves. The real reason anyone should be watching a Scott Adkins movie isn’t to see him cry. It’s to see him put on an impressive show of mixed martial arts beat downs.

And he does, often and with extreme prejudice. The story is kept simple it’s plain ole’ revenge with a few twists something Florentine did intentionally after what he seems to have felt was a muddled mess in the first Ninja movie.

The rogues gallery brings the fight, including Tim Man, the film’s fight choreographer and former Ong Bak stuntman who shows up in the third act and gives Adkins his most heated battle. It all lays out quite predictably and with its share of wooden dialogue, but in the end it’s still one hell of an old school fight film.

An authentic Japanese revenge thriller from an Israeli director, his British lead an his Swedish fight choreographer. It’s a worldly affair that absolutely kicks ass. The Upside: With no disrespect to the Undisputed series, this is perhaps the best collaboration between Scott Adkins and Isaac Florentine yet.

When asked which martial arts actor he’d still love to fight during the film’s Q&A, Adkins said “Donnie Yen.” Now that’s something I’d love to see happen, and soon.