I’ve just watched one of the most action packed, martial art driven, blood splattering movie I’ve ever seen in the form of Ninja Assassin. The movie is directed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta) and stars Naomie Harris, a Korean pop idol called Rain, Ben Miles, and a former James Bond (Die Another Day) badie, Rick Yune. One of the main selling points of Ninja Assassin is that it was produced by Joel Silver and the Wachowski Bros. (The Matrix Trilogy) and was written by the same chap who wrote the screenplay for Clint Eastwood’s Changeling, J. Michael Straczynski – although this would fall into a slightly different genre!
Synopsis from Comingsoon: 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.
OK, so this movie is action packed for sure. Barely 2 minutes goes by without one of the most spectacular martial arts scene you’ve seen since the last one in this movie. The special effects guys must have been working over time to supply enough fake blood to fill the screen! That said, I think most of the blood effects shots will have been done in post but the melding together of the live action martial arts, the amazing fight choreography and stunning parkour is just simply awesome to watch.
The dialogue in this film is pretty poor at times and the story is one we’ve seen over and over again but I can’t think of a movie which combines the marriage martial arts, lighting, visual effects, special effects, direction and overall choreographys well as Ninja Assasin does.You sort of forget that the acting is a bit shoddy as you’re too busy waiting for the next action sequence to come along which is never far away!
One of my favourite scenes of a fight taking place which you only really get to see in the circle of light created by a torch. The direction by James McTeigue must have been a nightmare trying to get everything that happens in shot throughout the 99 minute runtime but he does a fantastic job at pulling you into the movie.
As I said above, don’t buy Ninja Assassin if you want an original story or decent dialogue, but if you want to see some of the best fight choreography mixed together with unbelievable martial arts, parkour and a LOT of blood, then this one is for you!
Check out this exclusive clip from the movie which will give you a bit more of an idea of what I’m talking about.
