Warner Bros. | 2009 | 99 mins. | Rated R
You wouldn’t think a film about a calculating, silent killer could be dull and uncreative, but Ninja Assassin manages to fit the bill in both categories. However, the fault might have been with my expectations. Ninja Assassin is exactly what it title implies—they are Ninjas, and they assassinate the hell out of people. If that’s all you’re expecting from this stylish action flick, you’ll likely be satisfied. But, if like me, you wanted to see a film with a cohesive storyline and well developed plot, you’ll likely find yourself disappointed once the action stops and the blood stops flowing.
Directed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta) and produced by Matrix creators Andy and Larry Wachowski, Ninja Assassin is about a Berlin-based Europol agent, Mika (Naomie Harris), investigating a series of murders that she believes were committed by ninjas. Mika somehow manages to convince her boss over five minutes of exposition about events that we never actually get to witness that a clan of ninjas is secretly hiring themselves out as assassins to high-bidding clients.
Among these ninjas is Raizo (Korean pop star Rain), a rogue assassin seeking to settle a score with his old associates, who are trained from childhood by a cruel sensei (Sho Kosugi) at a ninja academy. Through flashbacks, we are shown that the teenage Raizo (Joon Lee) had a crush on an attractive female ninja-in-training, Kiriko (Anna Sawai), and endured a none-too-explained rivalry with fellow teen ninja Takesh (Kai Fung Rieck). Though not everything in the flashbacks makes senses, this much is clear: the abuse he suffered there, and the murder of his lover Kiriko, is an indication of a much deeper corruption. Raizo must fight back against his clan and stop their machinations, and to do so, he must save Mika, now the ninjas’ primary target.
That’s as involved as the story gets. Though it seems its only purpose is to set up a few chases and the rest of the action. We are simply told a bunch of things we never see, which is apparently supposed to stand in for plot and character development. The script, written by first-timer Matthew Sand and revised by Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski leaves the characters so underdeveloped, it’s really impossible to care what happens to any of them.
Ninja Assassin is essentially nonstop murder, graphic and bloody to the point of absurdity. The ninjas are depicted not just as stealthy and fast but as actual supernatural beings, disappearing as wisps of smoke when they move. Some of the fighting is reasonably stylish, but there’s no investment. It’s action without meaning, which gets boring very quickly.
WB uses a VC-1 encode that reveals every last drop of the film’s blood in all its 2.40:1 theatrical-ratio goriness. Colors are bright, deep, vivid, and rich; the transfer shows no blemishes, and object delineation is noticeably sharper than the still-good standard-definition version. What’s more, there is nary a sign of filtering, edge enhancement, digital artifacts, or moiré effects in sight. Even the nighttime scenes display good inner detailing.
The studio offers the audio in lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Like its lossy Dolby Digital counterpart, it is very dynamic, with lots of bams, pows, crashes, and bangs, and a bass that will rattle the walls. Moreover, the audio engineers use the surrounds well for pinpoint directional activity, so you’ll hear knives, swords, and bullets flying from every corner of the room. In comparison, DTS-HD track seems a tad smoother and more dynamic than the DD 5.1 audio, so it is a relative step up in quality.
The disc includes English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese spoken languages; French, Spanish, and Portuguese subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired.
There are a few special features, but nothing special.
• The Myth and Legend of Ninjas (HD, 19 minutes): This clip-heavy look at the history and mythology of ninjas is good, rapidfire fun and, believe it or not, surprisingly informative.
• The Extreme Sport of a Ninja (HD, 10 minutes): This behind-the-scenes EPK is less successful — particularly when its talking heads go on and on about how amaaaazing the people who worked on the film were — but still admittedly entertaining. Its overview of the stunts, action sequences, and martial arts in Ninja Assassin is fittingly succinct, and nicely paced.
• Training Rain (HD, 10 minutes): This self-explanatory featurette showcases the impressive evolution of Rain as his physical training and choreography sessions begin to pay off.
• Additional Footage (HD, 8 minutes): Four hit-or-miss deleted scenes, two of which effectively dip into Raizo’s past and the time he spends on the run with Mika, and two of which waste time with Mika’s investigation.
• Exclusive Sneak Peek (HD, 5 minutes): I’ve seen this sneak peek of Clash of the Titans elsewhere — but it still delivers a decent extended preview of the film.
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