This is by far the best ninja movie I have seen.

Right from the very beginning this movie is up in fast pace, action-filled and soaking in blood. There is a lot of bloodshed in this martial arts fest.

The story of the movie is good and keeps going at a good pace, so you never feel bored. Of course the story is straight forward and have no surprise twists to the plot - but an action movie of this caliber doesn't need plot twists.

The martial arts choreography and fighting scenes are brilliant, fast and hard punching. There are lots of really cool weapons being used in the movie as well.

There is just one bad thing to the movie, and that is why would an ancient clan of Japanese ninjas speak English? It makes no sense, as Japanese people are bound to traditions. But of course, I suppose this is kept in English to reach a wider audience. But had they actually done it in Japanese, there would be a much more wholesome feel to the movie. And also, again why would a Japanese clan take in non-Japanese children and train as ninjas?

Anyway, the cast of the movie is good, and it is refreshing to see new faces to the martial arts scene. The dialogue is straight to the point, no clumsy, half-hearted dialogue going on here, which also helps the movie to keep going.

So if you like ninja movies and action movies, this is definitely a movie you cannot allow to miss out on. Top notch action from beginning till end. But do take notice that there is a lot of blood in this movie!

Ninja Assassin is set in Berlin where Europol researcher Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris) has a possible lead on several assassinations, Mika believes that Government's are paying a Japanese clan of Ninja assassins to take out anyone they want. The last bureau investigator to make the connection Alexsei Sabatin (Wladimir Tarasjanz) was thrown out of Europol & was then murdered, Mika is convinced she is right & continues to pursue her theory & talks to Alexi's widow who gives Mika a file about the Ozu Ninja clan that her late husband had built up. Going back to her apartment Mika is attacked by the Ozu Ninja who now want her dead as she is too close, but Mika is saved by another Ninja who introduces himself as Raizo (Rain) who was once a member of the Ozu clan but turned his back on them after they killed his girlfriend & now wants to bring them down. On the run from the Ozu clan & Europol both Raizo & Mika have to deal with Ninja assassins & armed police as they go on the run...

This American & German co-production was directed by James McTeigue & if you want lots of bloody Ninja fighting action & martial arts moves then Ninja Assassin is the film you need to see, if your a Ninja, martial arts or action film fan then it's very hard not to like Ninja Assassin. First of all the plot isn't anything groundbreaking, a superhuman Ninja assassin decides killing people isn't the life for him so turns against his master & clan & sets out to put an end to the Ozu Ninja assassins. The first half of Ninja Assassin is split between the present day action of Europol agent Mika uncovering the existence of the Ozu Ninja & flashbacks from Raizo chronicling his brutal training & the events that had lead up to the present situation, I will certainly give the script credit for trying to inject some heart & feeling into the Ninja & giving him some proper strong reasons for his bloody revenge even if it is still a little simplistic. At 100 odd minutes the pace is good & the second half features some truly spectacular Ninja & martial arts fights the likes of which I can't remember seeing before. I did question the climax somewhat though, how did Mika get Raizo to swallow that homing device? Why did Europol turn up at the motel if the homing device was on Raizo? How did Mika know the Ozu Ninja would just take Raizo rather than kill him & her there & then? I suppose you could come up with plausible answers for these questions though so it's not a deal breaker or a film killer.

I watched Ninja Assassin on Blu-ray last night & it looked mightily impressive, the Blu-ray also features a few deleted scenes which expand on the investigation by Mika a little bit but nothing major was cut. Where Ninja Assassin excels is with it's fight scenes, there are some fantastically cool martial arts scenes here from the Ozu Ninja attacking a Europol building to a great fight on a road with speeding cars zooming past the fighters to the climax set inside a burning dojo with embers floating in the air everywhere as sworn enemies fight to scenes of Raizo slicing the bad guy's up with a razor sharp blade on the end of a long chain. Ninja Assassin is probably as good as the final Ninja scene from Tarantino's Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) only in colour so the copious amounts of blood splatter can be seen in it's full glory. Make no mistake about it Ninja Assassin is maybe the goriest big budget Hollywood flick to get a theatrical release, heads are chopped in half, bodies are cut in half, arms, legs, fingers & heads are severed, people are stabbed, cut, chopped up & the amount of blood is often quite staggering. I also liked how the makers made the Ninja assassins of stealth who moved silently through the shadows & only show glimpses of them for the first few action scenes. There are plenty of cool poses & stylised action moves to keep one entertained & amused, some of the Ninja weaponry is cool too with some seriously dangerous looking Shruiken.

With a supposed budget of about $40,000,000 this is very well made, even on high definition Blu-ray the CGI blood looked alright, actually filmed in Berlin in Germany. The acting is fine, Rain is apparently a Korean pop star but does look the part here & he obviously trained hard. Shô Kosugi comes out of retirement to play the bad guy in his first film role since Drug Connection (1993).

Ninja Assassin isn't going to win any awards for it's intellectual storytelling although it does try to give it's main Ninja character's a bit of depth, it's the gloriously gory, violent & stylish martial arts fights where Ninja Assassin really delivers the good. The Blu-ray looks great too, by the way.

To be fair, I wasn't expecting much from NINJA ASSASSIN. Hollywood don't have much of a history in making decent ninja movies – you have to go back to the 1980s for those, when a slew of B-movie successes (like ENTER THE NINJA) meant that every studio were busy churning out variants on the same theme. Since then, films detailing the black-clad assassins have been few and far between and they're more often used incidentally in a film rather than as a starring attraction (such as in THE LAST SAMURAI).

NINJA ASSASSIN changes all that, focusing foremost on the legendary killers while other sub-plots merely get in the way. Produced by the Wachowski brothers, this is the kind of effects-heavy, ultra-violent fight fest that will appeal only to gore and martial arts fans looking for a quick fix. The grisly bloodletting that's to come is obvious from the first scene, a horrendous massacre whose highlight (if you can call it that) is seeing a guy get the top half of his head torn free. The movie is full of such action, indeed the fight scenes dominate, featuring our hero Rain battling an army of assassins or featuring riffs on such showdowns (if you ever wanted to watch a fight between special forces and a ninja squad, this is the film). I usually hate CGI blood effects, but they're done so convincingly here that I didn't mind them at all.

You can guess the calibre of the acting and script. Rain, a Korean pop star, certainly looks the part (word has it that he trained until he had 0% body fat for this role) but his acting is equal to one of those 'wooden men' that martial artists sometimes train on. Naomie Harris and Ben Miles, two British actors, are involved in a plot involving an Interpol investigation into ninjas, but it only distracts from the main storyline. We get Rick Yune as a slick heavy and a real casting coup in Sho Kosugi, who plays the chief ninja. I understand that director James McTeigue was instrumental in getting Kosugi back on screen for his part here and he's the best thing in the movie. I don't ask for much from my films and the presence of Kosugi plus tons of grisly fights equals a good time in my opinion. Your mileage may vary...