Ninja Assassin

NINJA ASSASSIN kept going back and forth in my mind between a 4 and a 5. But, the thing is, there was a lot of 5 material, and some of that material was completely stunning.

I absolutely love the martial arts in this film. As fake as it may be, it's still great.

There are a few different styles of action. There's a lot of jumping to dodge 10,000 throwing stars. That's kind of graceful and slow-motion friendly. Then, there are shots of raw power. He throws the throwing stars with great power; they punch with great force. Then there's a lot of slicing and dicing with swords and smaller blades. The opening scene is a statement: "Brace yourself. It's going to be bloody." This is stated, specifically, but cutting a person's head in 1/2. That kind of sets the bar.

Then there's the more fantasy type stuff... hiding in the shadows, vanishing, moving supernaturally fast, self healing... If they wanted to make a truly serious movie, that stuff could've been cut. But, as is, it's subtle enough to keep the tone.

The raw power scenes are my personal favorite. The hard kicks to the head really came of as hard kicks to the head. A crushing blow to the chest really comes off as a crushing blow to the chest. Awesome.

In the opening scene, there are a lot of stars flying around, and I thought "How could that many be thrown?". Then later, when he's working out, we see how he does it, and I was almost giddy.

Giddy was the overwhelming emotion of my viewing experience. There were moments of excitement that I don't think I've felt since the first Matrix movie. It's not as chock-full of them, but there was enough to make me smile, laugh, and almost yell at the screen. It was a very triumphant experience.

I don't care how much of it is fake. People can't fly, and I still liked CROUCHING TIGER. Actually, that's newer than Matrix... maybe CROUCHING TIGER was the last time martial arts made me giddy... not sure if that did or not. The matrix definitely did. Oh well. It's just a detail. I'll stick with my original statement until hypnotic regression can confirm one way or th eother.

For the type of movie it is, it's pivotal and, dare I say, ground breaking. I can't wait to see it again. In this is great film era of "taking the material seriously", they succeed.