"Ninja Assassin" follows Raizo (Rain), one of the deadliest assassins in the world. Taken from the streets as a child, he is transformed into a trained killer by the Ozunu Clan, a secret society whose very existence is considered a myth.
Entertaining, albeit OTT, action movie from director James McTeigue ('V For Vendetta') 'Ninja Assassin' is essentially a slick, heavily stylised tribute to those straight-to-video neo-Ninja movies from the 1980s (e.g. 'Revenge Of The Ninja', 'Secret Ninja', 'Golden Ninja Warrior' etc). Asian teen idol Rain ('Speed Racer') is Ninja-on-the-run Raizo, who escapes the infamous cult of masked killers and now, unsurprisingly, finds himself top of their hit list; pursued with a vengeance by sadistic sensei Ozunu (played to the hilt by the legendary Shô Kosugi).
Rain is like a Korean Keanu Reeves and acts in a blank, wooden, one note style, which, for this role at least, actually works quite well. Naomi Harris ('Miami Vice') and Ben Miles ('Coupling') play 'Interpol' agents trying to make sense of it all. And they're not the only ones, for despite the violent opening sequence 'Ninja Assassin' takes a while to get going and the first half is a bit of a muddle. But when our hero escapes 'Interpol' and takes on the Ninja clan dispatched to bump him off, you're in for good fifty minutes of well choreographed martial arts action, courtesy of Peng Zhang (Donnie Yen's 'Blade of the Rose'), Jon Valera ('Mortal Kombat: Conquest') Chad Stahelski ('The Matrix' sequels) and Jonathan Eusebio ('The Bourne Identity').
McTeigue comes up with some good shots but tends to overdo it with the blood effects; for copious amounts of claret are spilt throughout the course of the movie, which, though a nod to the works of Godfrey Ho and the Shaw Brothers, occasionally look rather silly and comedic.
Not a patch on the modern classic that was 'V For Vendetta' but not nearly as bad as some reviews would have you believe: Absurd but amusing B-style Ninja hi-jinks, make for a watchable pot-boiler with some flashes of creativity and a couple of good fight scenes to boot. 'Ninja Assassin' does exactly what you'd expect it to; nothing more, nothing less.
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Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play. Ninja Assassin follows Raizo (Rain), one of the deadliest assassins in the world. Taken from the streets as a child, he was transformed into a trained killer by the Ozunu Clan, a secret society whose very existence is considered a myth. But haunted by the merciless execution of his friend by the Clan, Raizo breaks free from them...and vanishes. Now he waits, preparing to exact his revenge. In Berlin, Europol agent Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris) has stumbled upon a money trail linking several political murders to an underground network of untraceable assassins from the Far East. Defying the orders of her superior, Ryan Maslow (Ben Miles), Mika digs into top secret agency files to learn the truth behind the murders. Her investigation makes her a target, and the Ozunu Clan sends a team of killers, led by the lethal Takeshi (Rick Yune), to silence her forever. Raizo saves Mika from her attackers, but he knows that the Clan will not rest until they are both eliminated. Now, entangled in a deadly game of cat and mouse through the streets of Europe, Raizo and Mika must trust one another if they hope to survive...and finally bring down the elusive Ozunu Clan. Actors Randall Duk Kim, Sung Kang, Naomie Harris, Rick Yune, Rain, Ben Miles, Sho Kosugi, Togo Igawa, Numan Acar, Yuki Iwamoto, Richard van Weyden & Thorston Manderlay Director James McTeigue Certificate 18 years and over Year 2009 Screen Widescreen 2.40:1 Languages English - DTS-HD Master Audio (5.1) Additional Languages Spanish ; German ; Italian ; Japanese Subtitles Cantonese ; Dutch ; French ; German ; Italian ; Korean ; Portuguese ; Chinese ; Danish ; Norwegian ; Swedish ; Finnish ; Castilian Spanish Duration 1 hour and 38 minutes (approx)
Martial arts action starring Rain as Raizo, one of the world's most deadly assassins. After Raizo's friend is murdered by the Ozunu Clan, a secretive group who brought him up and taught him to be a killer, he defects and begins to plot his revenge. Meanwhile, a Europol investigation by agent Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris) has uncovered details of connections between a string of murders of high-ranking European officials and a group of unknown assassins, namely the mysterious Ozunu Clan. Her pursuit of the case puts her in great danger and when the assasins try to kill Mika, Raizo rescues her. The pair must now work together to stay alive and expose the Clan.
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