Ninja Assassin = Martial Arts Gore Porn

Ah, the martial arts film; one of cinema’s classic genres.  One we haven’t seen done well in a long time. Not since Akira Kurosawa, Bruce Lee, and the Jackie Chan/Jet Li team up two years ago has this film trope been given its proper due tribute. Enter “Ninja Assassin"; a 21st century makeover that does give martial arts films a much needed booster shot in the arm while carving up its enemies in to celluloid sushi.
The plot is simple. Our Protagonist, Rain, was raised in an orphanage that doubled as a recruitment and training camp for young ninjas to become master silent killers of the night. When his only friend gets executed by the clan, he breaks free of their bonds and sets his sights on killing them all. Add Interpol secret agent and love interest Mika and the backdrops of some of the most famous streets in Europe with a horde of bloodthirsty warriors after them and you have the prime ingredients for a most flavorful blood soaked butt kicking cake.
The thing that gets me is though I rather enjoyed the film [after all, a martial arts film is about turning off your thinking parts of your brain and letting the testosterone and adrenaline flow freely] many of the professional critics in the industry panned it for being too bloody and act like you are supposed to find the meaning of life the universe and everything in such a film.
“Ninja Assassin could - and should - have been the Zombieland of martial arts flicks” Writes Mike McGranahan of the independent syndicated column “Aisle Seat”. I think you’ve been watching too may Jackie Chan films Mike; not every karate chop has to be delivered in a Buster Keaton fashion.
Christopher Smith of the Bangor Daily News writes, “It's a wild mess, and it commits the worst crime a messy film can make--it completely lacks entertainment. It's an overly violent, unintelligible bore.” Well Chris, I was entertained quite well, thank you very much. You don’t have to put too much into a flick such as this and like minded contemporary of the critics trade Mike Pollard of Kung Fu Cinema agrees and puts it best, calling it a “Fast-moving and gruesomely satisfying fight fest that rarely lets pesky character or plot development get in between a hail of shuriken and their target.”
And that, my friends, are what martial arts cinema is all about. So if you’re in need of a good asskicking splatterfest that is graphic and CGI loaded, then head to the theaters for Ninja Assassin.
 

• Facebook Comments
• Site Comments

Be the first to comment on this article!

Add comment


I am not posting spam. I understand posting spam or other comments that are unrelated to this article will cause my comment to be flagged for deletion and possibly cause my IP address to be permanently banned from this server.

Enter the characters in the image above:

log out