EVOL666

24 May 2012

Fun Throw-Back To The 80s Ninja-Films With Some Modern Twists...

NINJA is not a ground-breaking, or even very good film for that matter.What it is-is an entertaining action-film that should prove to be funfor those of us who are old enough to remember and enjoy the '80sninja-films that came before it. The plot is nothing new or original-and goes like this: an American whowas orphaned in Japan is brought up as a ninja. When his Japanese'classmate' and nemesis dishonors the ninja-school...he is kicked outand of course turns to the 'dark side'. The honky is named the newninja-school leader, and is charged to protect their clan's ancientweapons. Of course this doesn't sit well with the Japanese bad-guy whofeels he should be the new leader...you probably see where this isgoing by now. Throw in a silly and unnecessary side-plot about somegroup called 'The Ring' that of course have world- domination typeplans, and a bit of love-interest between the white guy and his cuteJapanese classmate/side-kick...and you have all the makings of yourproto-typical ninja- film...If you're looking for something serious and meaningful, or evenoriginal-you will not find it in NINJA. Hell-even the title is generic.But what you will find is a decent, fast-paced action-film with lots ofchop-socky ass-kicking. Again-if you are a fan of the older films thattread much the same territory-I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy this onetoo. Personally-I found it to be more enjoyable than last year's NINJAASSASSIN-and would've rather seen this one in the theater...7.5/10  

Drago_Head_Tilt

23 May 2012

Ninja

Scott Adkins (a charisma vacumn) stars as an orphan raised by the KogaNinja clan in Japan. You'll think Godfrey Ho is back and working for NuImage as good ninja Adkins must fight bad ninja Tsuyoshi Ihara(following Sho Kosugi's career path?) in New York (obviously sets inBulgaria). Ihara is working for corporate cult Illuminati types, andwants to get his hands on some sacred ninja weapons. Mika Hijii (fromALIEN VS. NINJA) is wasted as the love interest who also studiedninjitsu, but needs to be rescued by Adkins all the time instead ofkicking ass. Competent in terms of action choreography, but why a kidsmovie plot with adult-orientated graphic CGI bloodlettting? With ToddJensen.

Heislegend

18 May 2012

Yes, its cheesy...but still pretty enjoyable

Like undoubtedly 90% of the people who will watch this movie, I waswhole-heartedly expecting something in the vein of those awful 80'smovies like American Ninja or Master Ninja. Well...OK...I was partiallyright. But this seems to have a little more going for it. Namely: ScottAdkins. Look, I know martial arts doesn't have a nationality, but it'sbeen a long time since I saw a westerner do such a good job in a screenfight. I didn't even realize this was the same guy from The Tournamentand Undisputed II. I guess he's got a thing for low balling his owntalent and being in cheesy movies? Regardless, this guy has the screenfighting ability to carry a whole movie...but he's settling for this?To each his own, I suppose.The plot is...lacking. That's a nice way to say that, right? It'sbasically about a disgraced member of a dojo who sets out to steal it'sprized possession...some dumb box. Whatever. So the sensei (you knewthere'd be a sensei, right?) sends two of his best to protect said dumbbox. Well, OK, to be fair one of them is his best student. The chickdoesn't do much except get knocked around and kidnapped...constantly.You can probably guess where this is going, so I'll spare you.Oh...there's a secret society bent on evil. Can't forget that.But like I said, it's still pretty enjoyable. The fight scenes are verywell done...surprisingly so considering they didn't come out of HongKong or Thailand. A lot of the "stylized violence" (a really stupidterm meaning pretty much all blood is CGI) is pretty poorly done, butit can be excused. I just can't imagine it's cheaper to do thanpractical effects. All in all I actually liked this movie, flaws andall. Definitely a movie you can crack a few beers open and watch.

wormtheace

18 May 2012

Ninja movies are back!

First let's get one thing straight! This is a genre movie. If you gointo it thinking you are going to watch the Godfather then you aregoing to be disappointed. Scott Atkins delivers the goods big time asthe hero ninja Casey further cementing him as a go to action guy. Themoves this guy can do are out of this world. The story is pretty basic.An adopted American taken in and raised as a ninja. The fight scenesfor the most part are beautifully done. Tsuyoshi Ihara is the realdiscovery of this movie. This guy should be getting some steady work.Now the bad stuff. The C.G.I. blood was cool in some parts, but overthe top in others. The gliding with the wings could have been left out.The C.G.I. was a little over the top in the sword fights. I was alsodisappointed with the character Namiko. She was a little to frail formodern day women in action movies. Yes there are some cheesy lines, butthat is part of the fun of these movies. The movie screams old school80's movie, but in a good way. It ends up being a far superior filmthan Ninja Assassin and was made for a fraction of the cost. If youlove action movies and hate the metro-sexual heroes that we get jammeddown our throats every film then this is the movie for you. I hope weget to see more like this because this movie had my blood racing theentire time.

15 May 2012

Ninja

This review is from: Ninja (DVD) The quality of the movie is excellent and the movie DVD never scratches from the beginning to the end.I have been playing the movie over and over again and it still remains great!Thank you.

mmaeramirez923

15 May 2012

Blood and Violence! Not that great of story!

***Possible Spoilers*** (Maybe not) The story basically consists in anAmerican orphan raised in a Ninja School who attempts to protect a boxof ancient Ninja weapons from an former schoolmate of the Ninja School.Thats the basic story, a little romance is thrown in of course from afemale schoolmate. Not a great story, the action though isentertaining, lots of stunt moves but a kind of overused beginning forNinja movies, corny ending with a kind of disappointing final showdown,a couple of actors a tad bit over-the-top that makes the dialogue alittle funny from time to time. Overall I'd give it say 7 out of 10,it's not a GREAT Movie, but its fairly good if you're looking for amovie with action and little story to it. Some scenes at the end trustme, when you see it you want to laugh, I'd watch it again, I recommendyou watch it, NOT opening weekend, its not a HAVE-TO see it movie, butits a fun movie to watch for some entertainment.

Brian Orndorf

14 May 2012

Ninja irritates far more than it thrills. Ninja pictures come around with all the regularity of Halley's Comet, making the complete uselessness of the feature all the more excruciating.

Max Coates

14 May 2012

This movie was appalling.

Ninja 2009 Trailer gave me so much expectations, it delivered somegreat scenes and looked like a true Japanese ninja-themed motionpicture. There are some pretty clear points on why this movie is soawful. The 2 main characters "Casey" & "Namiko" grow up at a school ofmartial arts, yet they struggle to deal with common thugs. And I'msorry but the actor for "Casey" is awful, he is untalented and shouldconsider a new job, throughout the film he looks tense anduncomfortable. Although the story line is predictable to some extent itis also outrageously spontaneous, for instance "Masazuka" at first it'stoo fond of "Casey" the next minute he tries to kill him then when theSensei expels him, he acts surprised I mean for god sake you just triedto kill a student what do you expect? Can I also add in the script waspoorly thought through, some of the wording (especially the translatedlanguage) is very poorly constructed. We all like movies withoutrageously impossible stunts and super cool Kick-ass movies right?ninja 2009 is an insult to my intelligence. I can understand someonescaling buildings or throwing darts, but since when can ninjas fly? Imean seriously, he clips the girl to around his neck and flies off likea batman, it probably wouldn't of been so bad if he used a zip wire, oreven if the effects used were acceptable. the Ninja showdowns werepretty good quality, they keep my entertained but there was an unneededamount of blood exploding in every direction when someone got injuredor stabbed etc. In my opinion the most important part to any movie isthe music, movies such as "the last samurai, hidden dragon crouchingtiger" and many more had classic Japanese styled music because it fitsand sets the scene. The music in this film is awful, even the Japanesemusic is bad. I would also like to add that the mastered Blu-ray DVDdid not fulfil the expectations of any DVD the sound effects where tooloud.I have to admit that I did not watch the end of this film, I wasdisgusted that this film was allowed to be sold. The acting was bad.The camera angles were cheap. The Music and sound effects weredisappointing. The whole ninja theme was ruined by the fact that theycan't even beat thugs. This film was a disappointment on the whole, itdidn't resemble a old ninja-themed film, it didn't even resemble aninja film. Poorly thought through and executed.

05 May 2012

Dont waste your time!

This review is from: Ninja (DVD) Don't buy this movie! Waste of time and money!There are hundreds of martial arts movies better than this one! Wish I had bought something else!

04 May 2012

Not worth my time

This review is from: Ninja [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) This movie was mistakenly purchased in place of NINJA ASSASSIN. This movie, despite the poor ratings, is still really bad. Very dumb. It started off mediocre and despite my hope and expectation, just got worse. Just too stupid for words--and with the exception of a couple of actors, very bad acting. Some good fight scenes, but nothing holds this story together--and did I mention, it was really dumb! Don't waste your time.

04 May 2012

A decent B movie...

This review is from: Ninja [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) But nothing like 'Blind Fury' with Rutger Hauer. The quick cuts for the most part are fewer than its elk, but still much too much inside. And if you're a current feminist, I suggest you Not watch this movie since the principle lady inside gets few-- Very Few moments to shine and mostly gets fist and leg pounded throughout! The mostly silent Hero get the job done w/o much snark or one-liners so that is sorta nice._The final point is this: If you like punch-'em ups w/o tedious monologue or whining. This is the Blu to go to!

03 May 2012

Ninja Blu-ray

This review is from: Ninja [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) A westerner named Casey, studying Ninjutsu in Japan, is asked by the Sensei to return to New York to protect the legendary Yoroi Bitsu, an armored chest that contains the weapons of the last Koga Ninja, to prevent it from falling into the hands of a dangerous Yakuza. Scott Atkins delivers the goods big time as the hero ninja Casey further cementing him as a go to action guy. The moves this guy can do are out of this world. The story is pretty basic. An adopted American taken in and raised as a ninja. The fight scenes for the most part are beautifully done. Yes there are some cheesy lines, but that is part of the fun of these movies. I recommend you watch it.

03 May 2012

You already know the story--But the action is spectacular

This review is from: Ninja [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) I am appalled by the negative reviews of this movie. Compared to Ninja Assassin, a big budget, over hyped movie, and over rated in amazon stars, this one, is better in many ways. Ok so the story may be very typical. I used to play action figues as a child and would conjure up the same story, rival pupils, jealosy, and the love of his beautiful daughter..... anyways, this move on blu ray is sleek, fast paced (boy was ninja assassin sloooowww) , and down right badass. No excessive (unrealistic) blood like ninja assassin--although it was sweet, but they show you what it would really look like when someone gets chopped up by kitana. Oh and let me say the arsenal used is so sick!! This movie had be out of my seat at least 4 times in excitement, all the while i am saying to myself how under the radar this movie was and how overly blown away i was by its production value. Sure there are no superstars, but the acting is far from terrible. Besides, its all about the action here. I can confidently say this is the best action movie of 2010 so far and maybe even 2009 and beyond... definately worth $17 for the blu ray.

02 May 2012

Good modern Ninja movie

This review is from: Ninja (DVD) This is also good Ninja movie, like "Ninja Assassin" story is similar. Story has background not just killing is only purpose to live also protecting and guarding are well known task on past. Story is good and after watching there was not any bad saying this movie. ***If you love ninjas and TMNT this is good pick. Also good pick you you are Kung Fu lower, things are almost same.

james_juhn

02 May 2012

Scott Adkins Ninja a very good movie with couple of flaws

After getting Ninja DVD sent from my uncle in Russia, I decided towatch this movie. But since there was quite a bit Japanese languagebeing spoken and DVD had no English subtitles, I decided to watch itwith a friend who is good at Japanese and is an action movie fanatic.Now I will say this movie is not perfect, but as a action movie, andNinja movies fan, I was thoroughly entertained nonetheless. on par withBlood and Bone in terms of entertainment value, falling just a littlebit short from Undisputed 2(8.5/10) due to some of its little faults.But despite its faults, I love this film and will be watching it timeand time again (actually although I gave both of them same grade, Ilike this movie slightly better than Blood and Bone, because of myfavoritism of Ninja movies ).

01 May 2012

More cheese than the state of Wisconsin!

It's been a while since I've seen something this bad. That may be because it's been about 20 years since someone MADE something this bad! This movie could have been made in the 1980s. I'm not talking about a throwback to the 80s, as other reviewers are claiming. You could literally take this movie back to the 1980s, show it, and not a single person would notice it was from 2009. No one in the movie uses a modern cell phone, laptop computer, PDA, or mp3 player; most of the cars are from the 80s. (I think they used very old stock footage for general traffic scenes - I saw cars I haven't seen in a decade). The jackets worn by the bad guys are straight out of a Michael Jackson video. The cordless phones are HUGE. The lead bad guy is the only anachronism and that's because he could be from the 1970s, his look, his dialogue, everything. (And yet, inexplicably, Mutsaka has modern night vision goggles, used consistently in situations where there's enough ambient light to render them useless.) Unless you're a diehard afficianado of bad martial arts films, avoid. There are better acting and fight scenes in "Kung Fu Panda," and fewer plot holes as well.

29 April 2012

Expected ALOT more!

I am a big fan of Scott Adkins ever since I saw Undisputed 2 and 3 and I really expected a whole lot more from him and Isaac Florentine in this movie since both Undisputed movies were so badass! But this movie was sooooooo lame. The acting was terrible. The effects were terrible. The plot was stupid. And the little details were just dumb. Alot of the other bad reviews pretty much covers in detail as to why this movie sucks but man Isaac should've used Scott's talent in martial arts a WHOLE lot more than the POS fight scenes he was in. They were your basic jump, kick and bad guy falls down in agonizing pain. C'mon! And plus Scott's character was lame. That did no justice for him as an actor or a martial arts expert.

28 April 2012

COOL cover!, BAD Ninja film!

I ONLY gave this movies 2 stars instead of 1 because of the cover!! OK, is not bad as Black Ninja but is certainly NOT good as Ninja Assassin.First of all, this is not exactly a ninja film, is more like a karate film. The good guy is always fighting the bad guys with his modern clothes until the ending when he decides to dress up as a ninja (the one in the cover) so he can fight the bad ninja. The only ninja that fights during the entire film is the bad armored ninja that kills a couple of good guys with his stealth sword and pistols. Of course, the fights were so-so, the acting was terrible, and the story was predictable.The only goodies of this movie are the blood and gore (which was kind of cool) and the fight at the end with the two ninjas fighting other bad guys and themselfs. Note: The final fight scene wasn't THAT long.P.S: In my opinion, this movie is very similar to the Transporter movies but without car chases, less budget, and with a ninja concept.

27 April 2012

One of the better Ninja Films in recent times

This review is from: Ninja [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) This review will be broken down into two sections: 1) The quality of the movie itself, and 2) The BD Disc quality.First up, the film itself:Plot (WARNING, MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!)The time is present day, and somewhere in a rural region of Japan, a dojo carries on the tradition of the Koga Ninja by training students in the ninja arts. The head of the school, called the Soke, is nearing retirement age and must choose his successor. His top two students are fierce rivals and both are leading candidates to inherit the title of Soke. However, before the Soke can appoint his successor, one of the top two students disgraces himself in a training duel against his rival and is banished from the school. Predictably, the banished student becomes a freelance assassin, and we see him employ his ninja skills to deadly effect in a very cool assassination sequence.We soon learn that the Soke is the keeper of some ancient Koga weapons which, legend has it, grants the wielder extraordinary abilities. The banished ninja comes calling to claim the weapons, but only after they've been shipped elsewhere for safekeeping. A vicious battle ensues between the bansihed ninja and the Soke, and at the conclusion of this battle, the chase is on for the Koga weapons, with the film culminating in a showdown between, you guessed it, the two rival ninja students. In this climactic battle, only one survives.As an added bonus, the beautiful daughter of the Soke is thrown into the mix, but sadly, she serves as little more than window dressing. While she demonstrates some ninja skills, she is mostly helpless in a fight and is relegated to the role of damsel in distress more often than not, despite having trained all her life in the ninja arts. Though in her defense, she's fairly useful with a bow and arrow, and she's nice to look at.The plot is better than most straight to video flicks, and in this case, serves as the thin thread tying the action scenes together, which are themselves well choreographed and well filmed. The Action:The action scenes feature the generous use of ninja weapons, including some impressive sword battles, as well as some decent hand to hand fight scenes. Aside from three fairly intense one-on-one fight scenes (all featuring liberal use of the katana), most of the battles feature one of the top ninjas in the film dispatching a multitude of lesser skilled opponents. The star of the film, Scott Adkins (caucasian actor and good guy ninja), demonstrates impressive martial arts and acrobatic ability, and it appears that he performed most of his own stunts. Keep your eyes open for a scene where he uses his acrobatic ability to evade an oncoming car. The ninja villain (asian actor and bad guy ninja, read into that what you will) also seemed to be well versed in martial arts and the use of ninja weapons, and I dare say that the fight scenes in this movie were more impressive than those in "Ninja Assassin" due in equal part to good choreography (far better than a Van Damme or Seagal flick, though don't expect anything as energetic or creative as what you'd see from Hong Kong legends like Yuen Woo Ping, Corey Yuen, Jet Li or Jackie Chan), the actors in this film being experienced martial artists, and an editing style that lingers just long enough on the action (as opposed to the hyper-quick cut aways used in Ninja Assassins, which is the norm for a film featuring actors who aren't very adept at performing the action featured in the film) so you can appreciate the skill of the actors pulling off the moves.The Acting:Nothing to write home about. The actors look and play their parts well enough as far as action films like this go, but none of them deliver performances that will leave a long lasting impression on you. That's a good thing though, because the acting isn't horrible either. It's just good enough to move the story along, as threadbare and full of plotholes as it is. The special effects: There is liberal use of blood splattering, sometimes into the camera, when a katana is used to lethal effect. The blood didn't look overly cartoony to me, but your tolerance/appreciation of these effects will vary depending on how much of a gorehound you are.The pyrotechnics are good. Swords clashing generate sparks at the appropriate times, and I recall two separate vehicle explosions also being impressively done.As for the BLU-RAY itself:Picture quality on my 1080P Phillips is excellent, though not quite reference material. The image is generally sharp, colors are well delineated with little crush evident in day or night scenes, and there is very little to no film grain, leading me to believe the film was shot digitally, with some grain retained for a film-like appearance.I can't provide a detailed review of the audio, as I utilize only the speakers on my tv itself, but from what I heard, I can say the audio came across clearly, with dialogue being easy to pick up and louder foley effects, such as swords clashing, gun fire, and explosions, coming in crisply as well.There is nothing in the way of special features, unless you count previews of other movies.All in all, if you're not too critical when it comes to martial arts themed movies, and you have an interest in seeing ninjas fighting ninjas and killing people in bloody fashion without an overuse of rapid cut editing, you may be pleasantly surprised. I recommend "Ninja" to viewers who are nostalgic for films like American Ninja (the first and best of the series) and Sho Kosugi films like Revenge of the Ninja. Is Ninja worth a blind buy though? I'd say for the $15 price tag, it is if you're a fan of violent and bloody ninja films. If you're just a casual fan, a rental is the safest bet.Either way, whether you rent or buy, there are far worse films in this genre out there, so happy viewing!

26 April 2012

Great Movie

This review is from: Ninja (Amazon Instant Video) First of all I want to say this movie was super awesome!I don't care about technical details, I watched the movie and loved everything about it.I definitely will watch it again sometime soon... 5 stars because I can't find anything I don't like in it ;)