Written by Matthew Sand and J. Michael Straczynski Directed by James McTeigue Running Time: 1:39 Rated R for strong bloody stylized violence throughout, and language. C+

Ninja Assassin was an extremely bloody, but at times dull, Ninja flick that could have been more.

Raizo was adopted by the Nine Clans as a child, and trained to be an assassin. He is put through hell growing up, and watches the women he loves die in front of him. After his first assignment, he sees the futility in his profession, and leaves. But no one just leaves being a Ninja, and his old clan hunts him down like an animal. Mika is a glorified Europol librarian and she comes across killings throughout the years that look like they've been done by Ninjas. She is also immediately hunted down, but with the help of Raizo, she escapes. Now it's up to the two of them to save everyone from the clan, before they become dead meat themselves.

A movie like Ninja Assassin isn't meant to be taken seriously so I won't go into much detail about the plot. The story idea itself isn't bad (if not something original) but the way it played out with the actors was rather bad. The lead actress (Naomie Harris) was all kinds of horrible and completely turned me off whenever she was on screen. I realize this movie was all about the blood (and there was a ton of it) but the rest of the cast at least was decent. She was extremely irritating and it wasn't just because of the poor script. Her line readings were cringe-worthy. Couldn't they have found a somewhat recognizable actress and thrown her in the mix? It happens all the time in movies like this. And I'm sure Joel Silver and the Wachowski Brothers could afford it. I just looked Naomie Harris up on IMDB and it appears she's been in a few major blockbusters. But the roles (at least in 2 of the films) were smaller. Either way, I didn't like her and she kept the movie at an arm's length for me. The rest of the actors, lead by South Korean superstar Rain, was good for this kind of movie. Rain didn't have a whole lot of dialogue, and everything he said came out in sort of a growl. The other standout was Shô Kosugi as his 'father' and leader of the Clan. Man that guy was a mean bastard. He took great joy in torturing young children and had this ultimate cool about him. Even though he was older than everyone, you knew that he could beat your ass.

Then there was the action. Whenever the movie took a break from the action, the movie slowed down a lot, and that was because the action was so intense. Actually, whenever we saw a Raizo flashback, it was kind of interesting. The beatings that kid (and the other kids) took was amazing that I actually found myself looking away from the screen at times. So really the movie only slowed down when Mika was involved. Which unfortunately, was a lot. But then there were the fight scenes. Talk about bloody and intense. The movie opens up with a guy getting his head cut off and just goes on from there. Limbs are liberally chopped off, blood squirts and gushes from everybody and people just seem to enjoy beating the living hell out of everyone else. Was it over the top? Absolutely. But I get the feeling that's why this movie was made. That being said, there were times that the blood was a little too much. It wasn't realistic looking, nor was it so highly stylized that it looked cool. On the other hand, I've never seen a Ninja battle so maybe it was realistic. If you don't like seeing a lot of blood, you're not going to like the movie. But if you're into big fight scenes with Ninja's using a lot of weapons (some really cool looking), then you'll enjoy the movie. Was it a great film? Not even close. But they cast the right lead for this kind of film and Rain easily carried the film on his back.

So overall, I thought Ninja Assassin was so-so. The fight sequences and blood were great. But the story and lead actress were very dull. But if you're looking for some good action, you could do worse.

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