It's RAINing Ninja Assassins

Posted on 12 November 2009 by Korean Beacon

were invited to a private screening of "Ninja Assassin" and there is one word to describe this action flick: BLOODY! This movie has more blood than a lot of horror flicks. More importantly: What about the movie? What about RAIN? If you’re looking for great fight scenes, then this movie will motivate you to sign up for a Kung Fu class because it's the best fighting sequences since... I can't remember. There really hasn't been any good martial art flicks in a long time.

RAIN is very believable as a Ninja because he's built like a killing machine and his martial arts technique is impeccable. However, we're not necessarily authorities in martial arts. Btw, will someone out there find us RAIN's workout regimen because he is stacked! RAIN definitely kicked ass when he was fighting and had that bad ass look, but his lines were limited to single sentences. There were no long Al Pacino soliloquies or speeches; just quick responses and one liners from RAIN. He was very monotone but I guess that's how Ninja's speak – without much emotion. He did have some funny one liners that got a chuckle out of the viewing audience. But the audience spent more time leaning back in their chair because of the numerous bloody scenes.

So what about the movie? Is it worth watching? The plot itself is a bit thin and the use of flashbacks is used quite liberally which disrupts the continuity of the film, but what saves this film is the fighting sequences. In fact, the audience probably wanted more of it because they were so well choreographed. I kinda wished it had the pacing of "Speed" and had more insights into the ways of a Ninja. Don't expect a classic like Enter the Dragon but rather an entertaining martial arts flick filled with a lot of blood and blades but thin on plot.

What's fascinating about this movie is that it's opening up as the big holiday movie during Thanksgiving weekend (Nov 25th opening) and it’s a movie that's dominated by Asian faces. Is America ready to watch a bunch of Asians for a couple hours? Naomie Harris has a big role but it’s RAIN and a lot of other Asian brothers in high definition. Though Ninja Assassin is a martial arts flick, it's really the first movie since the Bruce Lee franchise to have an Asian man in the lead role of a Hollywood made film. It's important for it to succeed commercially to get more Asians in front of the camera.

Source: www.koreanbeacon.com