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Trailer: Ninja Assassin

I had low expectations for Ninja Assassin. From the trailer and title, I thought it was going to be a lame attempt at cashing in on a video game-calibre ninja film. To my surprise, what I got in viewing it was an awesome, wild and bloody ride that blew my mind and even made me a little bit giddy.

The film opens with a bunch of thugs being taken out by a deadly group of ninjas from the Ozunu Clan. These ninjas are lightning-fast brutal killers. They tear their victims apart with ninja stars and other insane ninja weapons. Arms and heads are ripped off, bodies are split in two, and more blood is splattered in the first 10 minutes than most of the horror films that were released this year (including Saw VI). This leads us to Europol agent Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris) who believes ninjas are behind the massacre, as well as other high profile killings. With an armful of research, Mika approaches her supervisor Ryan Maslow (Ben Miles) to start an investigation on her theory.

Switching gears we meet Raizo (Korean superstar Rain) – a young, powerful ninja who was adopted by the Ozunu Clan as a child and trained to be a ruthless killing machine. He has escaped the clan and now protects people who are hunted by them. We see his story unfold with flashbacks of his training under Ozunu (famed martial arts actor Shô Kosugi) and what led to him breaking free. When Mika and Maslow get too close to unveiling the truth and are targeted as a threat to the clan, Raizo crosses paths with them to hopefully save them from death. The rest of the film is a never-ending bloodfest of ninja after ninja being killed, decapitated or chopped into bits. It's sick, but it's oh so fun.

Produced by Joel Silver and the Wachowski brothers, and directed by James McTeigue, Ninja Assassin is a very stylish, slick film. Like McTeigue's first film V For Vendetta, it's very dark and takes the genre very seriously. Sure, the dialogue and acting could have been better, but this is a ninja film first and foremost, and a kick-ass one at that. The fight scenes are outstanding and authentic, thanks to the filmmakers not relying on wire-work and instead using stuntmen trained in Parkour, the art of climbing walls and maneuvering over obstacles in a fluid, artistic motion. Watching them is jaw-dropping bliss.

Ninja Assassin does a great job at making ninjas cool again. Hopefully another Ninja Turtle movie won't ruin the vibe.

*** out of 5 stars

Top image: A scene from Ninja Assassin. Courtesy Warner Bros.