Movie Time: Ninja Assassin

[SunWuKong]

Oh, yeah.
Killing, killing, and more killing. Started off bloody and kept going.
Surprisingly, it had a decent plot. History and back story was believable. Not overdone, nor campy. Exposition was also kept in check.

The ninja were, expectedly, over-the-top killing machines. But it was all good. What else would you expect from of movie with this title!! They also did a good job with the ninja mysticism. Spooky guys. And one heckuva bad-ass ninja clan leader.

4 shuriken.

[Vahn]

I completely agree. This movie was almost everything I wanted it to be.

I really only have 2 qualms with it. The first one doesn't give anything away, so it's spoiler-free:

The main childhood-friend's acting just didn't do it for me. She's a perfectly fine actress, but her dialog-combined-with-acting in some of the scenes just didn't fly (so it's a combination of her and the writing); but, I can completely overlook that, it didn't really bother me nearly as much as this next issue...

Seizure Vision. Holy Mother of the Gods, did they get shake-happy with the camera. It was worst in the car-fight scene. The camera shook so much at times that I had no idea what was actually happening on screen.

Now, I know that this is a popular technique in action movies today - Gladiator didn't start it, but it really pioneered it as the term "Seizure Vision" for me personally (even though I love that movie).

The problem with having Seizure Vision in Ninja Assassin is two-fold.

ONE: This is a movie from the guys who made the Matrix. They know how to create good on-screen choreography, and the choreography in this movie is EXCELLENT -- WHEN you can actually SEE it, the few occasions during fight scenes when the camera isn't jerking around all over.

TWO: Due to the fact that we're dealing with ninjas, an awful lot of the fight scenes are incredibly dark to begin with - they fight in the shadows. So already you're straining slightly to follow what's happening on screen, and then they throw Seizure Vision on top of it. You're able to follow about half the time, but the rest (and also the entire car-fight scene) you might as well rest your eyes, because you can't really follow what's happening.

Now, on top of THAT, add in the fad in action movies to day for SUPERFASTCUTSOMGSOMANYCUTSINTHREESECONDS style editing, and you just get lost. I'm really happy that some of the fight scenes - particularly those in flashbacks - are light enough on the constant cutting of footage to actually show you some of the choreography.

I was really, really hoping for some amazing fight sequences. Unfortunately with Ninja Assassin, the amazing sequences are there, but you can't follow them. So, to me, it failed in that regard.

What I really want is for someone who studied under Korusawa's cinematic style to come out and create a martial arts movie. The style I refer to here is how Korusawa would often go an entire minute without cutting the camera angle or footage...that just doesn't happen anymore, and it saddens me. The actors/martial artists/stuntmen today are so talented, that we get some truly amazing sequences that are candy for our eyes...and it gets completely lost as they constantly cut it up to make it seem super fast adrenaline pumping action...

Neither of these are really enough to ruin the movie for me. I still enjoyed it entirely too much for my own good. I will buy it when it comes out, and I pray that there is an awesome special edition DVD release, because I love me some special features.

I side with SunWuKong here, and despite my two qualms, it gets 4 shuriken. That's 4, out of 5. I would give it 4.5, but you can't throw half a shuriken, and therefore it would be silly to measure in half-shurikens. 4 out of 5 it is.

For those who have yet to see it, who have read melancholy reviews and wonder why we enjoyed it so, let me just say this:

The title is Ninja Assassin. Think about that for a moment. Yeah. That's all there is to it. Take it for what it is, and you will bathe in glorious ninja bloodbath goodness.

[WhiteHawk]

Impressive! When I watched the trailer I had hopes that it might not be a total failure (as far as I could tell, the action sequences looked quite enjoyable) and I was hoping that would make up for any plot/faithfulness flaws.

If you guys are so happy with the way it turned out, I might have a go at watching it myself!

[Hale]

I'm with Hawk. Been hearing good things about this, and want to go see it now.