Ninja Assassin

If Thai action star Tony Jha brought back renewed interest in ‘real kungfu’ to the big screen with his ‘Ong Bak’,  Korean pop star Rain has done exactly the same in bringing back ‘real ninja action’ stuff in ‘Ninja Assassin’.

For Rain is lucky to get maverick Hollywood action director James McTeigue (of ‘V for Vendatta’ fame) and producers the Wachowski Brothers (of ‘The Matrix’) to back him.
With a ‘master degree’ in their own fields these guys tell the story of nine clans who kidnap orphans and after training them as ninjas would sell their services to governments of the world – mainly to assassinate enemies. But, when Raizo (Rain), an assassin, decides to break away from the organisation, he is hunted; but he hits back with some of the most stylish action stunts.

Unlike most ninja movies, Raizo’s target is to kill his former master Lord Ozunu (Sho Kosugi).

In the midst of this war between the ninjas, we have Europol detective Ryan Maslow (Ben Miles) and researcher Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris) entangle in a web of deeper plots. End result: Blood and flying body parts.

When we look at ‘Ninja Assassin’ as a martial arts film, it is a step ahead among hordes in the same category.

It is fast and the choreography has many ‘whoa’ scenes. Some scenes are well enacted by the South Korean pop star Rain who gives an average gloomy face. Miles and Harris are also not that bad.

The target audience is clearly young adults. Some graphic scenes look gory, but these slowly fade into comedy.

The film has style and action but the plot leaves you to conclude that there could have been more to it.