Ninja Assassin

Welcome to another episode of The "D" List.

Today's review is Ninja Assassin. Directed by James McTeigue. Written by Matthew Sand &
J. Michael Straczynski.

It's no secret to the masses that I am inclined to see a film every now and then. It's also no secret that I try my best to immerse myself in as many genre's of film that I can. As a result I am pretty even keeled when it comes to a favorite genre of film with 1 VERY BIG exception. The genre of film that holds a special place in my heart is Martial Arts Cinema. Since I can remember I have been a fan of martial arts films, so much so that I studied up on it's history from the top directors, actors and choreographers. So on and so forth. I own close to 250 martial arts films and can probably give you cast and crew bios on almost all of the films in my library.

In fact my screen name Sammo420 is in homage to my personal favorite martial arts Actor/Director/Choreographer, Sammo Hung Kam-Bo. He went to the same chinese opera school as Jackie Chan. He is still today and rightfully so regarded as one of the best action directors in hong kong. Some of the finest martial arts films in history came from Sammo's vision and action direction. He was also one of the finest technical screen fighters to ever grace celluloid. I can can go on about this all day but I know you all don't have all day.

My point is to show you that I LOVE martial arts films and how I consider myself an authority on the genre. So when I see a martial arts film made today I am by all accounts a VERY harsh critic. So where does Ninja Assassin rank among the many (and I do mean many) martial arts films that I have seen you ask?

It's somewhere in the middle.

The story begins in Japan where a Yakuza (Japanese Mafia) syndicate is wiped out by a silent assassin. That assassin being a ninja of course. This scene establishes a secret clan called the Ozunu who train orphaned children in the art of Ninjitsu to be assassins for hire. It also introduces our hero ninja Raizo played by Korean pop star Rain. Meanwhile in Germany a Europol forensic researcher, Mika played by Naomie Harris is piecing together several recent high profile assassinations and comes to the conclusion that ninjas are involved. When Mika gets too close to the Ozunu clan, she is targeted to be taken out only to be rescued by Raizo. He reveals that he has intentions to take down the Ozunu clan and be free himself of the life that he no longer wants to be a part of.

There are other layers to the plot that explain Raizo's exact reason for destroying the Ozunu clan and why he's being hunted by them but I won't reveal them here because then the entire plot will be exposed and that is problem #1 with Ninja Assassin.

I know that in a martial arts film the story is secondary to the action but I refuse to be convinced that the 2 elements can't be blended together to form a cohesive movie. The core of the story here was solid but in my opinion there needed to be more. I wanted more depth behind the Ozunu clan. Instead you get flashbacks of Raizo's intense training. Now those flashbacks were necessary to establish Raizo's superior skills but there should have been more expansion on the Ozunu clan itself. The film portrays it as the top ninja clan in the world. WHY? What makes it so dominant.

The Ozunu sensei is played by the legendary Sho Kosugi. He has starred in many classic ninja films in the 80's produced by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus A.K.A Goran/Globus. Back then the 80's were a renaissance for ninja films and those 2 men were the pioneers when it came to making these films stateside.

Master Kosugi plays Sensei Ozunu with such power and conviction that you want more of him. You want to know what made him the head of the world's most powerful assassination organization. The alternative here is Ozunu playing the rigid no nonsense teacher who beats his students when they mess up. He impresses to his students that to be a top ninja you can't have any emotions. There were chances for him to illustrate that point in stronger ways than what you do see and it never took place.

Sad.

The paper thin plot also falls back to the relationship between Raizo and Mika. For a good part of the 1st act, Mika is spending time trying to catch Raizo and after he saves her life she just accepts him as a friend. That doesn't fly here. You need time to create that trust between friend and implied foe. I'm not saying that you have to spend 30 minutes getting there but you have to dig a little deeper than the amount of time it took here. It's here where the screenwriters Sand &
Straczynski could have used some polish from the Wachowski brothers who were the executive producers.

They in my opinion would have done a fabulous job in keeping the story and action in perfect harmony because they like me are martial art film freaks. They understand the reasons why those films are looked down upon by mainstream america. The cheesy translated script amplified by even cheeiser english dubbing give these films a comedic tone that is never intended. Need proof? I have 2 words for you.

The Matrix.

The Matrix was one of the best american made martial arts films since probably the Karate Kid or Kill Bill. If you think that The Matrix wasn't a martial arts film at it's core then you and I must have a conversation because my explanation would be too much for this review.

The Wachowski bros. would have gone deep into Raizo's soul and stripped him down to his bones giving us a much more complex character worth caring about. Instead you get glimpses that in my opinion are not good enough to move the film along. This was of course the classic hollywood/hong kong method of giving the audience a chance to breathe between the fights. Which is what most people are going to see this movie for in the 1st place right? Well I can honestly say that Ninja Assassin delivers on that front.

Sort of.

The fights in Ninja Assassin are impressive and intricate considering that the martial arts choreographer was american, Chad Stahelski. Now I don't want to sound like an american choreographer can't do what Hong Kong choreographers can do. That's not what I mean at all. In fact if you weren't going to go after the Hong Kong heavyweights like Sammo, Yuen Wo Ping, Ching Tsu Tung, Corey Yuen, Tony Leung, Donnie Yen Ji Dan or Sonny Chiba, Stahelski is the closet thing. He trained under Dion Lam who was part of Yuen Wo Ping's stunt team. Master Yuen was the choreographer of the Matrix trilogy so there's no better teacher. Stahelski was also Keanu's stunt double. Hiring Stahelski as the fight choreographer was a very good one but there was 1 VERY important aspect of his choreography missing. There was NO NINJITSU in a movie full of ninjas.

Allow me to elaborate.

The discipline of Ninjitsu relies heavily on 1 tactic more than any other martial art. That tactic is stealth. Now you see the ninjas lurking around in the shadows which was OK and for the most part the ninjas fight each other with very impressive choreography, acrobatics and weaponry that are accurate to Ninjitsu but Ninitsu applies stealth in one on one combat as well and that was not present here. Ninjas fight dirty. They are not bound by honor or the code of the warrior. Their mantra is better you than me and if that means I have to throw sand in your face before I stab you with my hidden dagger then so be it. It's those nuances that make ninjas and ninjitsu unique to every other martial artist or discipline. It's a shame that there wasn't any of that applied to the fights here. That would have put the action at it's peak.

A side note concerning the action. The violence is very strong and at times over top. The shuriken or ninja throwing stars to the laymen are fired like bullets so I wouldn't bring the little ankle biters to this one.

Overall, Ninja Assassin is exactly as advertised. An in your face, stylized, updated, re-imagination of the ninja film. For the casual fan/action junkie, this film should not disappoint. For me it falls a little short in the narrative. Martial arts filmed are no longer trapped in Hong Kong handcuffed by small budgets, bad scripts or poor directing. It's time to get it right.

I may sound like I'm asking a lot but look at it this way. Why would you go to see a film called Ninja Assassin in the 1st place? To see ninjas kick ass for 2 hours. Wouldn't that experience be more fulfilling if there was a solid plot to reinforce the action. You MUST have a reason to fight in a martial arts film, but nowhere in the rules of filmmaking does it state that the reason has to be 10% of the overall story. There has to be a better balance. You get that and you will have succeeded where SO MANY others have failed.

On the 5 star scale, Ninja Assassin gets 2.5 stars with a "Go See It" recommendation. It probably deserves a 3 star score but I hold martial arts films to a higher standard since I have seen and own so many amazing films that have executed the perfect mix of plot and punches.

That's all for today. My next review is The Fantastic Mr. Fox. The latest stop motion animated film directed by Wes Anderson.

Until Next Episode......"I'll Save You A Seat!"

"D"