Ninja Assassin

Rating:	★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Action & Adventure

I've been watching out for this movie since I first saw it as a trailer for one of the movies I saw recently. I just thought that my longing for a great martial arts movie minus the spectacular location shootings and the cast of thousands that usually attend many of the recent films in this genre, e.g. Hero, and House of Dagger of Jet Lee, and without the zany humor that are the mainstay of Jackie Chan movies, would be a little refreshing if not a little nostalgic for the Kung Fu films of the great Bruce Lee.

I am happy to note that indeed there were no spectacular scenery shots, and the story and action very serious indeed. Of course, how else can a portrait of an assassin be presented but seriously. But in so far as action ala Bruce Lee was concerned, it didn't quite measure up.

If there is one word though that will always be used to describe this movie is Gory. It seems that all the wounds inflicted in all the fight scenes (for both the bad guys and the good guys) are all in their major arteries as the blood spurting out of their bodies are indeed more bountiful than your average garden fountain.

But while the spurting blood and gore are the movie's main "attraction," I am happy to note that it does not even begin to approximate the blood-and-gore-experience in another Hollywood movie which utilized martial arts, and where the sharp, shiny Samurai blades were extensively used - Kill Bill - where even the severed body parts could be seem spurting blood.

To enjoy or just simply appreciate this movie, you must know what you're getting into, i.e. a lot of sharp blade cutting flesh and gratuitous amount of blood splattered all over. I consider this movie the Kung Fu equivalent of the Rambo series. i.e. one guy against all (but instead of Rambo's heavy firepower, the weapons of choice here are an array of impressive ancient Ninja weapons, including ninja swords, ninja throwing stars, and ninja knives connected to ninja chains).

You don't really have to bother about the story itself. Once you see all these weapons employed in the raging fight sequences, that's when the fun really begins.

The pace of the action in the fight sequences is also cleverly handled by making most of the fights occur either in the night time or partly in the shadows so you don't really notice if there were lapses in the choreography.

The Korean movie star Rain seems to me a quite able action star that could be further built-up as a possible new Bruce Lee. He has the type of ribbed abs that Bruce Lee had, and a little more time in the gym could have the desired effect. The only problem I have with Rain is his name. First of all is that he has no family name and I think Rain somehow does not fit the macho image of a great Kung Fu fighter. Secondly, his boy-next-door image in the Korean tele-novelas which are famous all over Asia keeps interfering with the "Rambo-image" that he is being molded into.

But I would say that since the days of Bruce Lee, there has never been a film that comes close to the fight scenes of movies such as Enter the Dragon and The Big Boss as this Rain starrer - The Ninja Assassin. I actually thought that Jackie Chan films were going to be like that but recently his fight scenes are looking more like the same excerpts from a dance sequence (that's why he has to make those zany scenes and keep on changing locations to hide the monotony, perhaps).

If you are like me who terribly misses the good old Kung Fu movies, this one will be a good fix. But if blood and gore is not your type, or you have strong opinion against bloody video games, you may have to skip this one. NOTE: If you can sit for almost two hours watching the new Twilight movie, New Moon, you can probably survive Ninja Assassin.

Here a synopsis from Wikipedia:
- Raizo (Rain) is one of the world's deadliest assassins, having been orphaned as a child and raised by the Ozunu Clan, believed by the world to be a myth. When the love of his life is executed by the Clan for betrayal, Raizo begins to harbor resentment towards the Clan. When his first official mission is completed, he is told to execute one of his fellow members for the same reason his lover died. He rebels against them, nearly dying in the process, and goes into hiding, seeking revenge on his former Clan. Meanwhile, Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris) is a Europol agent who investigates money linked to political murders and finds that it is linked to the Ozunu Clan. She defies her superior, Ryan Maslow (Ben Miles), and retrieves secret agency files to find out more. The clan, finding out about the investigation, attempts to assassinate her, but she is rescued by Raizo. Hiding in Berlin, Raizo and Mika must find a way to take down the Ozunu Clan. Permanently. -