KamenGrappler
Lurker
I watched it last night, thought it was awesome. Not the greatest movie I've ever seen or anything, but well worth the 9 bucks I spent to see it.
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Ninja Assassin - Talk UP!
- Thread starter Lustful Butchery
- Start date
Exo_Kopaka
Member
I know it says in the title, but I have to ask...
How much NINJA is actually in this film? It just looks like some random Asian pop star with chains slicing people up with various Ninja weapons. I don't see anything NINJA about this.
And please tell me this isn't like War (Li and Statham) where they hired pretty much anyone who had an Asian last name in Hollywood to play "authentic Asians". It was so painful to watch. If you're going to have "Japanese People", at least hire some authentic Japanese people. I hate how some of these "Asian" movies are so stereotypical and play a mockery on the actual culture without doing a little research.
How much NINJA is actually in this film? It just looks like some random Asian pop star with chains slicing people up with various Ninja weapons. I don't see anything NINJA about this.
And please tell me this isn't like War (Li and Statham) where they hired pretty much anyone who had an Asian last name in Hollywood to play "authentic Asians". It was so painful to watch. If you're going to have "Japanese People", at least hire some authentic Japanese people. I hate how some of these "Asian" movies are so stereotypical and play a mockery on the actual culture without doing a little research.
Japanfan4ever
Sometimes things get complicated.
Honestly, I didn't expect anything other than a Ninja film. This is one of the few times I disagree with the critics. It's a Ninja movie, I don't know why they were expecting some drama-filled epic. It had amazing action, and some very brutal and dark characters. But they act like it needed these really in depth and overly thoughtout environments. The action was extremely intense, comic book-style, and visceral.
In reality, it did what it needed. The cutting was really manic, and kind of hard to follow. But then again, so was the editing in Speed Racer, made by the Wachowski Bros., so it's not surprise it carried over to here. Not a bad movie, not great, just right. A good Ninja film, with lots of violence. What else did you expect, right? :disappoin
In reality, it did what it needed. The cutting was really manic, and kind of hard to follow. But then again, so was the editing in Speed Racer, made by the Wachowski Bros., so it's not surprise it carried over to here. Not a bad movie, not great, just right. A good Ninja film, with lots of violence. What else did you expect, right? :disappoin
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Kung Fu Lover
Member
Same here. Two of my martial arts friends said the exact same thing. I'm waiting for it on DVD myself. I had such high hopes for this film too... :disappoin
x1xBladex1x
Member
This movie was freaking awesome!!! I watched it earlier today & it was just great. About time we got an awesome ninja movie. ^^
Japanfan4ever
Sometimes things get complicated.
But that's all it needed to be. People's expectations were too high. It did exactly what I expected it to do: Impress me with awesome, fast-paced visuals, and give me some brutal characters to be disgusted by after they end up a bloody mess. . .
Japanfan4ever
Sometimes things get complicated.
I'm a huge Kung Fu fanatic, too. My collection of MA films is huge. And I can tell you one thing: If you were going into this expecting genuine martials arts expertise, then you were bound to be disappointed, because this film and other recent ninja films are about effects and crazy visuals. They're not about martial arts.
Basic martials arts and special attacks/sneak attacks are what seperate ninjas from usual MA fighters. I didn't expect great choreography, something this film lacked. I expected crazy visuals, and intense weaponry usage that could never happen, in reality. It served that :buttrock:
Bolt
boogie woogie feng shui
Ninja Assassin-
Short Review
They dropped the ball, but it didn't roll too far.
Entirely-Too-Long Review
I wasn't planning on seeing this in theaters, but I broke down and saw it anyway. It's not bad. There are things I liked about it and things I didn't, and oddly enough, the action was the best part of the movie. Now, I went into it not expecting much in the way of story or character, and there wasn't much, but this is the first movie I've seen in a long time where the characters almost ruined it for me. They were all just so terribly generic. Raizo was cool and all, but he was pretty much your typical strong, silent, humorless hero that can do no wrong. Boring. But I forgive him because of his abs. Putting the "gentle-hearted kunoichi" in the movie was one of the worst things they could have done because it reeeaaaally detracted from the main plot and made it look like they didn't know which way they wanted to take it (CIA stumbles on ninja assassination scheme? Ex-ninja killer takes revenge for slain lover? Well-oiled vagabond attempts to overcome influence of cult brainwashing? Why not all three?!). Same with Rick Yune, that villain came outta nowhere and was mostly pointless. Naomi Harris, bunch of old white dudes, who cares? It's like they thought they could barrage us with a ton of unrelated subplots and we wouldn't be able to tell that they didn't have the script ready by deadline. I mean, I'm no Richard Feynman, but don't insult my intelligence. What I was really interested to see and what I thought they handled somewhat well was the ninja background and training. At first, I thought the training scenes were pretty hardcore awesome, but the further the movie progressed, the more they seemed to be set on making them look like some kind of creepy cult (calling Ozunu "father" all the time and doing that silly whispering thing whenever they were lurking in the shadows, what the hell?). Speaking of ninja training, how is it that they devoted their whole lives to becoming the most feared assassins in history and yet they're showing up on surveillance videos, throwing shuriken at the hoods of cars instead of the tires, and failing to kill one lousy guy even though there's fifty billion of them and he's been out of practice for years? Oh well, I can even forgive that; after all, realism obviously wasn't the focus of this movie. The action was, and all things considered, I thought it was well done. Much better than standard Hollywood chop socky bullshit, and done with some class and a lot of lighthearted brutality. Some was pretty hard to see (the chase in traffic looked like watching a snowy TV set on 100x zoom), but it was mostly easy to follow and well-choreographed, if a little repetitive. I was a little disappointed by the lack of empty hand fighting, but I guess that's to be expected from what was basically an Asian-themed 300 ripoff. I got what I came for, and all things considered, I don't feel like I wasted $9.25 seeing it (maybe only like $3.25). But at the same time, it didn't feel like something that I hadn't seen before, where with the right direction and creative production, it probably could have. Although I have to say, when Naomi Harris uttered that last line "my heart is over here!" I threw up in my mouth a little bit.
6.5/10
Wrong! While no cinematic masterpiece, Isaac Florentine's Ninja was all about the physical skills of the leads and stunt guys. And there are some legitimate movies on ninja lore out there (think Owl's Castle), even if they are hard to find. And what about Ninja Assassin's visuals were "crazy," exactly?
Short Review
They dropped the ball, but it didn't roll too far.
Entirely-Too-Long Review
I wasn't planning on seeing this in theaters, but I broke down and saw it anyway. It's not bad. There are things I liked about it and things I didn't, and oddly enough, the action was the best part of the movie. Now, I went into it not expecting much in the way of story or character, and there wasn't much, but this is the first movie I've seen in a long time where the characters almost ruined it for me. They were all just so terribly generic. Raizo was cool and all, but he was pretty much your typical strong, silent, humorless hero that can do no wrong. Boring. But I forgive him because of his abs. Putting the "gentle-hearted kunoichi" in the movie was one of the worst things they could have done because it reeeaaaally detracted from the main plot and made it look like they didn't know which way they wanted to take it (CIA stumbles on ninja assassination scheme? Ex-ninja killer takes revenge for slain lover? Well-oiled vagabond attempts to overcome influence of cult brainwashing? Why not all three?!). Same with Rick Yune, that villain came outta nowhere and was mostly pointless. Naomi Harris, bunch of old white dudes, who cares? It's like they thought they could barrage us with a ton of unrelated subplots and we wouldn't be able to tell that they didn't have the script ready by deadline. I mean, I'm no Richard Feynman, but don't insult my intelligence. What I was really interested to see and what I thought they handled somewhat well was the ninja background and training. At first, I thought the training scenes were pretty hardcore awesome, but the further the movie progressed, the more they seemed to be set on making them look like some kind of creepy cult (calling Ozunu "father" all the time and doing that silly whispering thing whenever they were lurking in the shadows, what the hell?). Speaking of ninja training, how is it that they devoted their whole lives to becoming the most feared assassins in history and yet they're showing up on surveillance videos, throwing shuriken at the hoods of cars instead of the tires, and failing to kill one lousy guy even though there's fifty billion of them and he's been out of practice for years? Oh well, I can even forgive that; after all, realism obviously wasn't the focus of this movie. The action was, and all things considered, I thought it was well done. Much better than standard Hollywood chop socky bullshit, and done with some class and a lot of lighthearted brutality. Some was pretty hard to see (the chase in traffic looked like watching a snowy TV set on 100x zoom), but it was mostly easy to follow and well-choreographed, if a little repetitive. I was a little disappointed by the lack of empty hand fighting, but I guess that's to be expected from what was basically an Asian-themed 300 ripoff. I got what I came for, and all things considered, I don't feel like I wasted $9.25 seeing it (maybe only like $3.25). But at the same time, it didn't feel like something that I hadn't seen before, where with the right direction and creative production, it probably could have. Although I have to say, when Naomi Harris uttered that last line "my heart is over here!" I threw up in my mouth a little bit.
6.5/10
Japanfan4ever said:
Wrong! While no cinematic masterpiece, Isaac Florentine's Ninja was all about the physical skills of the leads and stunt guys. And there are some legitimate movies on ninja lore out there (think Owl's Castle), even if they are hard to find. And what about Ninja Assassin's visuals were "crazy," exactly?
Japanfan4ever
Sometimes things get complicated.
You know, the part where a majority of the moves in the film couldn't be done practically, in real life. :hmm: This isn't a Yuen Woo Ping film. The moves are as far-fetched as can be! The action in this made Iron Monkey seem as grounded as UFC.
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