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A stylised, excessively violent slice of martial arts pulp, Ninja Assassin reunites director James McTeigue with producers Joel Silver and Andy & Larry Wachowski for the first time since 2005's V for Vendetta. It nothing else, Ninja Assassin can be commended for staying true to its title. There are ninjas in the movie, and they indeed assassinate people in action set-pieces that highlight director McTeigue's trademark flair for slick, highly choreographed action. If this is all that matters to you, then the film delivers. However, those looking for anything resembling an actual movie - with character arcs, a plot, nuances, etc - will likely be disappointed once the blood begins to dry. Still, when you're dealing with a movie entitled Ninja Assassin, the quality of the ninja-ing rules all.
The protagonist of the story, Raizo (Rain), was raised by a secret underworld of ninjas, and has been trained to become an unflinching killing machine. During the many years of his training, Raizo managed to retain enough humanity to want to rebel against his future as a heartless killer, and eventually turns rogue. He decides to help Interpol researcher Mika (Harris), who is attempting to convince her superior (Miles) that ninja clans still exist and carry out international assassinations for a high price. It's lucky for Mika that Raizo is around, as Mika's investigating has made her a target. What follows is a fairly rudimentary exercise in run-from-the-bad-guys-until-it's-time-to-kill-them action cinema.
First-time screenwriter Matthew Sand and TV veteran J. Michael Straczynski have concocted a narrative for the film that's strangely reminiscent of Batman Begins, with story beats as predictable and generic as Raizo's gradually-revealed motivations for becoming a rogue assassin out for revenge. It's a crying shame the Wachowski Brothers neglected to hire a writer who could have at least developed an interesting story to accompany the mayhem, but what Ninja Assassin offers is a flimsy, thin plot that struggles to hold the movie together in between the action sequences. Unfortunately, whenever the badass action halts, the dialogue is usually howlingly bad and comes off as merely perfunctory. What's more heartbreaking is that glimpses of a much smarter movie are present from time to time, but are ultimately wasted. All the talk of international intrigue suggests a Bourne-style action-thriller which could've resulted in a far more engaging cinematic experience. Instead, we're left with a ninja seeking revenge who's trying to protect an attractive stranger. Alas, this alone is simply not enough.
Decades ago, ninja movies were almost entirely reliant on the physical capabilities of the picture's stars, with a bit of clever editing to enhance these abilities. But in the 21st Century - in the world of post-Matrix digital effects - any actor can be made to look like they can do anything. Thus, as McTeigue pulled off for 2005's V for Vendetta, a combination of traditional fight choreography and CGI is utilised to pull off the action sequences. In fact, a number of the set-pieces within Ninja Assassin feel like video game cut-scenes, and it's surprising that no-one suggested the film be in 3-D. At times, the frantic editing/shaky-cam techniques do become pronounced to the point of distraction, unfortunately, and it's difficult to fully appreciate the graceful athleticism of the choreography. Also, unlike the masterful use of digital effects in V for Vendetta, the violence is occasionally far too cartoonish to be effective. While some of the violence was done practically, most of the maiming is CGI, which allows the filmmakers the freedom to be mega bloody, but it also mars their work because it's less visceral. Thank goodness the action still remains eminently watchable.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ninja Assassin is thoroughly absurd. For instance, heavily armed SWAT teams have no chance against a few well-trained ninjas, yet 800 well-trained ninjas have no chance against Raizo? How come one ninja on his own is unstoppable, but ninjas within an army suddenly lose their invincibility? While killing ninjas as if he's merely swatting flies on a hot day, Raizo is even critically injured every few minutes, but it never seems to bother him. Maybe Raizo is using that miraculous healing power that was demonstrated earlier in the film? If he is, it's poorly delineated. Meanwhile, the acting in the movie is generally subpar. Playing Raizo, Rain acquits himself well in the action sequences, but he's bland, and lacks the requisite charisma to create an indelible screen anti-hero. Ben Miles is the only other cast member worth mentioning. The actor - who earned his stripes featuring in the highly acclaimed British TV series Coupling - submits a perfectly adequate performance.
While V for Vendetta was a wonderfully intelligent, well-performed and provocative action film, James McTeigue focuses squarely on the action in the case of Ninja Assassin. Heck, the film's producers, the Wachowski Brothers, also showed an ability to mix action and intelligence in The Matrix, but intelligence and solid acting are nowhere to be seen in Ninja Assassin. To its credit, this is still a well-paced actioner which delivers if all you want is some kinetically exciting, blood-soaked ninja fighting, but given the talents involved, we have to mourn what the film could've been. In this sense, the film only works in pieces, and five minutes after watching it you'll probably forget you ever saw the flick.
5.9/10
