James Absolon explains how this Pope-themed film, despite its risky premise, works
Alex Pollard reviews Hollywood's biopic of the controversial Margaret Thatcher
Ninja Assassin is the story of Raizo (played by the brooding Rain) who, after rebelling against his ninja clan, the Ozunu, must flee from his former brother assassins. After saving an Europol agent Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris) from a ninja’s shuriken, who was on the trail of the assumedly mythic ‘Nine Ninja Clans’, the duo pair up to bring down the Ozunu clan, and gain Raizo’s revenge.
Ninja Assassin is a film that delivers exactly what the title suggests: lots of ninjas assassinating people with plenty of blood, guts, and knifes on the ends of chains flying across the screen. The gore is not of the Hostel variety, but is very much in keeping with the classic kung fu Samurai films. It won’t have you quietly vomiting into your pop corn, but it may prompt you to let out an “oh” of sympathy for the chap who has just had his neck broken.
The plentiful displays of martial arts and skillfully shot stunts present the audience with a battery of pleasing action sequences, most notably a fight scene which spans several lanes of a motorway. Light in particular is used to full effect to create the image of the ninja as a shadow dwelling super human killing machine.
The combat is the film’s selling point, and really, its only virtue. The plot is very simple, and follows the traditional revenge story. The minor sub-plot, of Mika Coretti’s attempt to uncover the conspiracy protecting the ninja clans feels to have been rather awkwardly forced into the narrative, in a vain attempt to make the plot seem more than an excuse to watch ninjas kill each other. The script seems to have been written around the objective of somehow getting two ninjas, as scarred and as topless as possible, to fight to the death in a burning dojo. The plot and other peripheral nonsense appeared to be just something that had to be rushed though. Indeed, the Wachowski brothers have admitted that the project was inspired by their ninja scene in Speed Racer, in which the Korean Pop Star turned actor Rain first appears.
Whilst Ninja Assassin is not as gripping as James McTeigue and the Wachowski brothers’ earlier work, such as V for Vendetta, the simple and formulaic style does not ruin it. The performances are generally good and even Rain can manage to pull off the brooding, wet-matted-hair look convincingly. It is one of those films that you have to watch in the right mood. If you want a film that has the complexity of Synecdoche, New York and the depth of The Road, then you will be disappointed. However, if you want a classic martial arts film, the mystique and image of the ninja, or simply feel the title combines the two greatest words in the English language, then you will be outside the cinema trying to remember all your yellow belt karate training from when you were seven in no time. This is one film you really can judge by the title.
You must log in to submit a comment.
