Ninja Assassin

"Ninja Assassin" B-

Andy and Larry Wachowski became popular when they directed a high budget science fiction movie called The Matrix, my all time favorite movie. They decided it would be cool to direct two sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. They were good, but by no means matched the success of the first one with fans or the critics. They then with help of an unknown director named James McTeigue, they created V for Vendetta. Some success came from that, and then they directed a flop called Speed Racer. I personally enjoyed this movie, but apparently the set pieces and overly flashy racing scenes were a bit much for some people. Now, just in time for the holiday season, we get a family movie from the creators of the Matrix trilogy entitled Ninja Assassin. Okay, so it is definitely not a family movie lol! You certainly get that vibe with the slice and dice opening sequence. It is not very often even before the opening credits you have blood and limbs literally flying everywhere along with chinese stars. It made Punisher: War Zone look like a PG kid's movie. After that, it slows down a little bit, but in the same process, the action comes and goes at times. The star of this movie, a Korean pop singer named Rain, showed himself in the movie Speed Racer and proved that he can be a compelling actor. In this movie, he is a tough guy who uses awesome weapons to defeat other ninja clans. The story is kind of incoherent. Basically to put it simply, Raizu, the ninja assassin, teams up with an Interpol agent to put away all of the evil ninja clans, specifically the clan of the black sand. This clan sends a letter with black sand and in it and then before you can say ninja, chinese stars are flying everywhere. That is pretty much all you get from this movie. It is fun, it has action and it works, but it certainly won't be in the running for any academy awards.