Ninja Assassin 2009
Director: James McTiegue
Writers: Michael Sand and J. Michael Straczyznski
Starring Rain, Naomie Harris, Ben Miles, Rick Yune, Sho Kosugi, Randall Duk Kim and Sung Kim

Ninja films are a sub genre that only have a few sterling examples of good film storytelling, the prime example of this for me is Ninja 3: The Domination, a film that combined Flashdance with a kick ass Ninja> I had high hopes for Ninja Assassin, but it fell kind of flat. It seems that the storytellers did not have enough pride in the Ninja aspect of the story and had to fluff it with a nonsensical plot line about a Government investigation and a very weak romantic interest that kept bringing down the movie. If the film had relied on the ninja aspects more I would have enjoyed the film much more. It has some dynamic fight sequences but they are not big enough parts of the film and it really shows the strain of the plot and that weakens the whole foundation. Though Rain is a excellent hero and he has great screen presence, it is just not enough to carry the film. It seems I have to weight for the ultimate ninja film.
The plot basics are this, Raizo (Rain) has been trained since a child to be a cold blooded killer. He was trained to be a ninja assassin and he turns his back on his clan after they kill the love of his life. He is now seeking revenge upon all it's members. He soon teams up with a Europol agent (Harris), and she has been marked for death by the clan, so she decides to join him and helps him take down his clan. It all leads up to Raizo's final showdown with his sinister master (Kosugi).
This is a film with many missed opportunities. The direction by McTiegue is done very well, the opening scene really sets the stage for the film, but it is never able to fulfill that promise that the first few blood soaked moments promise. It is a shame cause McTiegue did such a phenomenal job on V For Vendetta. The script is another aspect that is rife with problems, the ninja sequences are amazing, but whenever there is downtime that involves the female lead the film suffers. It just shows that they should have stuck with the ninja aspect and built that up rather than dealing with the silly Europol plot line. The cast is a mixed bag, Rain does an excellent job and whenever he is fighting you are hypnotized to the screen. Kosugi as his evil master is excellent as always. The real weak link in the film is Naomie Harris, she acts horribly and you never believe in anything she does. It is a true detriment to the film that it is never able to recover from. The action sequences and the SFX are phenomenal and are the only thing that is perfect about the film. The opening sequence is a beauty of carnage and gore to behold and the film is worth watching for that scene alone. This is a must see for ninja fans but I would tell the general audience to avoid it.
This one gets 3 out of 5 Ninja Assassin