My Review of "Ninja Assassin"

Ninja Assassin is an action movie that came out back in 2009. You have to consider when this movie came out. At the time they were just starting to use CGI to make action movies to look a lot crazier. This movie took it to another level and for some it came be a little too much. For me, I absolutely loved it.

The movie starts out with a little side scenario to make us fear the ninja assassins. We have a young yakuza gang. An old man is giving one of the young leaders a new tattoo. Of course the young boss is being cocky and brash. They make us really want to hate him. Next thing you know they get a letter sealed by an ancient stamp. There's nothing in the letter but dirt. The next thing you know one ninja assassin absolutely murders all of them in the worst fashion possible.

This sets the stage of what we're going to get in terms of violent gory action. These ninjas are ruthless, mysterious and magical at the same time. It also allows us to have a nice little mystique about where this ninja clan comes from. That's a nice little introduction to whet our appetite.

Next thing you know we get introduced to Raizo who looks to be a ninja. There's more than meets the eyes with Raizo. We also get introduced to Mika who is the opposite side of the spectrum. Mika is a detective trying to figure out the mystery of this mystical ninja organization.

The problem is that whenever anyone gets close to finding the truth about this secret ninja organization they get assassinated. There's a lot of ninja assassinations so the movie was aptly titled. Raizo and Mika's paths will eventually cross and we learn more about Raizo's backstory along with Mica's investigation.

We get a bunch of twists and turns but you're not here for the elaborate story. Though there is some pretty good world building with their story. The action really outshines everything in this movie. Though the special effects are quite outdated it doesn't totally take you away with what they're going for. It is extremely violent and isn't for those feint of heart.

At times this movie can feel like a horror movie. There are elements of horror throughout the movie because you know how crazy and plentiful these ninjas are. They're creeping all over the place and they almost feel indestructible.

That's why it's so extremely crazy to see how good Raizo is. It's hard to fathom anyone holding back these crazy ninjas let alone destroying them with ease and that's just how good Raizo is. They did a good job in showing the levels of power between the characters in this because there's always one person better than the other.

I also liked the mystical powers of the ninjas. It gives it an extra air of believability in this weird and absurd world. You won't be wondering how people can be cut and shot and live afterwards when you realize they have these crazy ninja powers that they've been practicing for decades.

There are a few setbacks other than the bad CGI. The acting and dialogue are quite offputting at times. There's also the fact that the movie was filmed in a dark setting. It's sometimes hard to see what's happening. Sometimes they'll be using shaking camera and really fast quick cuts to help us lose our orientation. I know what they're going for but at times I wanted to see what they were doing. It's not totally intelligible.

Overall, I really liked this movie but I have a bit of a demented mind. This is also a movie that you have the feeling a 13 year old boy wrote. There's all these things that are pure adolescent brainstorming fun. It's fun and absolutely absurd but if you're able to shut off your brain you can totally enjoy this one. I have to give this one a 7 out of 10.