Ninja Assasins

Great action, not so realistic though…

The Story:

Raizo (Rain) is one of the deadliest assassins in the world. Taken from the streets as a child, he was transformed into a trained killer by the Ozunu Clan. But haunted by the merciless execution of his friend by the Clan, Raizo breaks free from them…and vanishes.

Now he waits, preparing to exact his revenge, with the help of a Europol agent Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris) that he saved from assasination by his former clan. Raizo and Mika must trust one another if they hope to survive and finally bring down the elusive Ozunu Clan.

Release Date: November 25, 2009 (wide)

Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures

Directed by: James McTeigue (V for Vendetta)

Starring: Rain, Naomie Harris, Ben Miles, Sho Kosugi

Budget: $40,000,000

Gross Revenue: $34,307,000 (US) and $60,462,000 (worldwide)

Review:

Short conclusion for this movie was, it has a great piece of actions, both in quality and quantities. And like many action movies, this one failed to present a good plot to made this film into an A rank cinema.

But for me, this movie was a great disappointment, and I yet to find a realistic Hollywood’s ninja movies. What I didn’t understand was, why they always portrait ninja like a comical character.

For those who learning muscle arts or understand about Japanese cultures, they must knew that ninja is not a monster. They are a deadly assassins that don’t like to confront their targets/enemies directly. In old Japanese tales, ninja was no match for a samurai in a close quarter combat. So, it kinda ridiculous to watched a bunch of ninjas stormed a warehouse that full with armed trained police officers.

Well, if you neglected the fact that those was supposed to be a ninja fight, you’ll find that the action sequences were exceptional. This movie was directed by James McTeigue, who just directed one movie before (V for Vendetta). But he was the assistant director for The Matrix trilogy, so it was no surprise if the fight scenes here were influenced with a slow motion style that Matrix had (just imagine Matrix with a shuriken instead of a bullet ).

One more thing though, why the producer chose a Korean love songs singer to played as a Japanese most deadly assassin?

My Rating: C+

IMDb user rating: 6.5/10

Rotten Tomatoes meter: 29%

Metacritic: 34/100

Yahoo! critics: C

Yahoo! users: B+