Ninja Assassin, There Will be Blood...Buckets and Buckets

Ninja Assassin delivers on everything it promises and more. There is all the expected action and plenty of gory Ninja goodness, but surprisingly, the back story is somewhat interesting and engaging. Don’t worry, I’m not going soft…the violence in Assassin is nearly overwhelming but, except for the first assassination scene, not totally gratuitous, but part of the attraction of the film.

The story is typical and familiar: young orphans are adopted to become killing machines (think Fagan only with razor sharp Ninja swords, Shuriken and blood). The “father” is head of one of nine Ninja families for hire to whatever entity has 100 lbs. of gold. Be prepared, each of the children is trained with some of the most brutal methods ever seen on film. The little ones are taught to fear nothing and to stand excruciating pain. All is good in the family until Raizo (Rain), the number one trainee, sees the woman he loves brutally murdered for trying to escape the Ninja compound. Biding his time and trying to follow the rules Raizo continues his training letting no one know his anger.

Soon asked to kill his first victim Raizo succeeds. Then, sitting in the rain bruised and bloody, Raizo’s “father” comes to him expressing his pride. Giving one last task to the young Ninja before joining the assassin’s clan, kill a young woman that tried to escape the compound Raizo, unremarkably, goes berserk and falls to his supposed death…only he lives. Ninja Assassin follows Raizo’s attempt to defeat the horrible family that raised him.

Assassin is a simple story, lots of gory action and no extras, if you like that type of film head to the theater; if you expect more: good acting, good direction and good dialogue head to the video store. Ninja Assassin is good escapist action with maybe a little too much graphic violence but worth checking out.

Rating 2 out of 5 (for action junkies 3 out of 5).