‘Ninja Assassin’ Leaves Behind A Trail of Bodies

For hundreds of years, secret clans of ninja warriors have been hired to discreetly kill major political figures; or at least that’s what Ninja Assassin hopes you’ll believe.

While it’s established the Ozunu clan kidnaps boys and trains them to be fearless ninjas that are silent, deadly, and resistant to pain, their motivations for doing so are never fully explained.

A feisty young Interpol agent named Mika (Naomie Harris) starts to put the pieces of the ninja puzzle together, implicating them in the global assassinations. She finds out that certain very connected parties are willing to kill her to keep the presence of the Ozunu unknown. Just how high the levels of conspiracy go, are also unfortunately never fleshed out.

Right when the ninjas swoop in to take Mika out, she’s rescued by a rogue warrior named Raizo (Korean pop star Rain). As main character of the film, Raizo’s story is told through flashbacks to his childhood in training.

It’s never made clear how he ended up with the Ozunu, but as the audience we see the poignant lessons he learns in his combat training. We follow his relationships with an older boy who befriends him, the girl he falls in love with, and the master who guides the clan according to his own ideals.

From here the film takes a logical path: Raizo seeks to protect Mika and exact revenge on the leader of the clan for betraying him. Before he can have his revenge though, he has to fight a whole lot of henchmen. What the movie lacks in plot development, it makes up for in solid action sequences.

Director James McTeigue keeps you right in the combat, making you feel like it’s up close and personal. He does some cool slow motion stuff that slows the action down, speeds it up, and then slows it down again in sequence. Raizo’s fighting will slow down, the camera zooms in, the action speeds back up, and then the camera cuts back to a wider shot and continues.

From a visual standpoint, one of my favorite scenes involves a band of henchmen chasing Raizo as he hops from level to level in a concrete structure. As a viewer you feel like you’re with him trying to get away, being pursued by a hoard of ninjas who are equally agile.

My primary complaints about Ninja Assassin revolve around under-developed plot points, and some over-developed ones. In terms of under-developed aspects, it doesn’t fully explain the ninja clan’s motivations or what their influence is on modern society.

On the reverse side of things, Ninja Assassin places too much emphasis the ninja mythology. Ninjas hide in the shadows, whisking around in wisps of light, and whispering incoherently in unison. At some point you just feel like saying “I get it, they’re ninjas…”

Probably the most unbelievable aspect of this film, is the ninja ability to heal from serious wounds. Simply by concentrating really hard, they can seal up gaping chest wounds, which is hard to accept even if suspend your disbelief.

Ninja Assassin certainly isn’t the best written film, but it certainly isn’t the worst. Despite my complaints with plot shortcomings, the action scenes are vivid and exciting which helps balance things out. Rain provides some personality to the hero Raizo, making him a very sarcastic character that elicits laughs even during some tense moments.

If you’re even slightly squeamish, you probably want to avoid this film. One of the goriest I have seen in a while, there’s a hefty trail of bodies, blood, and severed limbs left behind. Even though this bloody mess is satisfying, it’s not nearly satisfying enough to overcome the movie’s weak plot.

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