Hey Ace here in his shogun stance reviewing Ninja starring Scott
Adkins, Tsuyoshi Ihara, and Mika Hijii. This film is directed
by Issac Florentine. Ninja's story begins in a dojo with the Sensei
(Togo Igawa) explaining Yoroi Bitsu and how it has been cherished
for generations. Yoroi Bitsu had been seen as a powerful weapon
if used - it heals or can prove to be fatal. Anywho, Casey (Scott
Adkins) is like a sore thumb in the dojo (The Last Samurai with
his Tom Cruise looking ass). Masazuka (Tsuyoshi Ihara) has a big
problem with him being here because he was from the west and is
practicing to be a ninja. Sensei senses this problem and warns
Masazuka about his actions of jealously. One day, Sensei orders
them to spar and instead Masazuka tries to kill Casey. Sensei
basically tells Masazuka to screw himself and kicks him out of
the dojo. Considering the fact that Masazuka was next in line
to take over from the Sensei this hurt him tremendously. Masazuka
vowed revenge and taking this threat seriously Sensei moves the
Yoroi Bitsu to New York. He sends Casey and his daughter Namiko
(Mika Hijii), who developed a love interest, to make sure the
Yoroi Bitsu is safe. Masazuka aligns himself with a white supremacist
group to help kill his enemies to get to the Yoroi Bitsu. All
hell breaks loose as Masazuka is motivated to kill anyone in his
way in becoming the best ninja in his dojo.
Good:
The action scenes in this movie are great. The chorography in the movie is comparably a little better than my favorite ninja movie, Ninja Assassin. The actors do a great job in the action scenes. Now Asian chicks aren't my forte but I was drooling over Mika Hijii. The story was also pretty good from beginning to end even though I don't like the whole Last Samurai theme.
Bad:
The movie's backdrop from time to time looked fake. This usually doesn't bother me but I could automatically tell this movie was filmed in Los Angeles and they tried their best to play it off. It reminded me of Rumble in the Bronx with Jackie Chan; I loved the movie but the scenes were clearly not in New York. It was a nice try though.
Ugly:
VIOLENCE VIOLENCE and more VIOLENCE!!!!
Conclusion:
Ninja is really good, but I prefer Ninja Assassin compared to this movie. I don't buy the whole white guy comes to Japan, stealing the Japanese women, and becoming the last Ninja theme, it seemed pretty stupid. That's just me though, plus it would have been cool if the CGI was better than it was. Overall, this is a really good film almost on par with Ninja Assassin. Out of TOV 5 stars, I give Ninja a 4.
