Visitors Review

(2012-05-24 00:41)

A lot of Fun

I just saw this movie and totally recomend it to all you ninja and martial arts fans!!! Some great camara work, awesome choreography, very nice action scenes, a good rivalry and the story isn't half bad. For those of you who might want more story detail, don't expect any twists its a simple story of 2 men at odds, one of them has something the other wants and wont stop at nothing to attain. Sure it has its problems, mainly the cult that the bad ninja works for and police ethics... The acting isn't going to win any Academy Awards but the actors all do good work with the material they had, I'm interested in seeing what they do next. Bottom line: Movie kicks major ass and does it well, action fans rejoice.

james_juhn (2012-05-23 01:13)

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 ).

(2012-05-16 06:50)

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.

(2012-05-15 12:00)

Ninja Rules

I looked at this movie thinking that it would be just another kung fu movie but i felt i was indeed wrong. compared to ninja assassin this movie lives up to its title and the action is indeed greatly appreciated. it has a nice old kung fu movie theme with modern action and value. I feel anyone that like Ninja Assassin would love this movie.

Prestige worldwide (2012-05-15 16:35)

NINJA

Are you kidding me! I almost thought this was real story! I thought when I grew up I could be a real ninja just like them!

(2012-05-14 21:21)

Waste of time

Well not much to say. I rented this at Redbox for a buck.. Waste of a dollar. I mean since when does a Ninja use a gun? That was pretty much a deal breaker for me. No Story at all. Stupid men in cult robes that never have a meaning. Bad acting. Fight scenes are Ok. More karate than Ninja. Pass on this one until its on TV for free.

KineticSeoul (2012-05-14 07:03)

Ninja movie that is laughable at times but not that terrible

This really is a below average ninja movie, from the dialogue to theacting to the action, almost everything is just way too cheesy andlame. In fact it's sort of like watching a slightly more violentversion of Power Rangers. The movie has some similarities of "NinjaAssassin", the ninja clan is sort of similar, so is the rivalry and thelove interest aspect of it. But unlike "Ninja Assassin" where the ninjathat goes rogue is the hero, in this one the ninja that goes rogue isthe main villain and the ninja clan are the good guys. The beginningscene made this movie seem like it has potential, but as soon as itbring some cult and cult leader in the whole movie went to trash.Almost nothing about this movie made any sense and there is just waytoo many noticeable plot holes. The main reason I decided to watch thiswas because I enjoyed "Undisputed 2 and 3" and was entertained by ScottAdkins performance, mainly fighting choreography in those movies. Butin this one the fighting choreography is just...eh. This isn't aterrible ninja movie, but there is a lot of flaws and the script isjust laughable at times. None of the characters are even remotelyinteresting and didn't even seem like ninjas but cheap imitations ofthem. They don't even really fight like ninjas either, so for a ninjamovie this is barely passable.4.3/10

Egi (2012-05-13 17:30)

2009 action in an 80's movie

Wow... I saw this movie two weeks ago on a sneak preview in KualaLumpur. I had no idea what to expect but being a 30-year old guy whogrew up on Sho Koshugi and Michael Dudikoff ninja movies I just had tosee it.As to the script it's a plain 80's rip of. An American ninja fighting aenvious Japanese ninja including a secret criminal organisation "TheRing" (How's that for a cliché?) makes this movie a typical no brainaction movie. Couple it with the east Europe crew and locations and analmost voice over synchronization and you got your selves a good laugh. In some of the action scenes (that were quite well made most of thetime) a street punk almost kills the ninjas where as in others ninjasdo a one-blow kill. Kind of inconsistent, don't you think?All in all I give it a 5/10 just because it took me back to late 80's,early 90's and made me feel like a kid again. I'd actually watch itagain for the same reasons I sometime watch "American Ninja", i.e. so Idon't forget the lines like:Soldier-Sir, have you ever heard of ninjitsu, the ancient art ofassassination? General-"Of course I have! (American Ninja 1)And laugh my a** off with my buddies...

(2012-05-11 13:07)

Great movie, well scripted.....action is amazing!

This review is from: Ninja [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) The title says it all but I can say this movie is awesome. The acting is superb and the action is top notch. It has a nice revenge factor too! Get this movie for a great price too!

(2012-05-11 00:17)

Horrible Movie

This review is from: Ninja [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) Horrible movie bad acting the only thing that was good about this movie was the bad Ninja's modernised armored and hi tech ninja suit

(2012-05-04 16:12)

excellent training/weapon demo sequences

This review is from: Ninja (DVD) Yeah, the acting is what you would expect for a Martial Arts movie but it is nice that they use very highly skilled martial artists first, acting, comes in second, here! I liked it! I was entertained! Not quite as violent as Ninja Assassin (spelling) but I liked it regardless!

(2012-05-04 04:15)

(2.5 STARS) Average B Movie with OK Martial Arts Action

What do you expect from an action flick blatantly titled "Ninja"? Shô Kosugi and those ninja movies made in the early '80s like "Enter the Ninja"? Though a low-budget martial arts action "Ninja" suffers from incoherent storytelling, stock characters and clichéd narrative techniques (a secret organization?), the fast-paced movie is not boring with surprisingly decent action stunts including some nice sword fights.The story is about Casey (Scott Adkins), a westerner adopted in the Kouga ninja clan, trying to protect the "Yoroi Bitsu," a box containing the sacred armor that has been handed down from generation to generation. Adkins shows what he can do in the action sequences (and there are many of them), but watching him kicking ordinary thugs on and on is not very thrilling. The repetitious action choreography needs more creative moves.Tsuyoshi Ihara plays Masazuka, a disgraced disciple who craves for the clan's heirloom. Movie fans outside Japan probably remember him as Colonel Takeichi Nishi or "Baron Nishi" in Clint Eastwood's "Letters from Iwo Jima." Mika Hijii plays the sensei's daughter Namiko. Several scenes of the film indicate both players have enough skills for action stunts, but sadly they are not allowed to show them here.Like the most low-budget action movies you see on DVD, it is not the silly storyline or cheesy effects that bother us. What is really disappointing about "Ninja" is the lack of creative ideas in action choreography, which could have been better considering the martial arts skills of the star.

p-stepien (2012-05-02 18:35)

Tongue and cheap

As we are taught by this movie the Japanese ancient art of espionage,covert ops and murder has evolved and has now become a respectablemartial arts focused on the spiritual perfection. As we all naturallyknow becoming a good person always involves learning the traits andusage of a multitude of deadly weapons, poisons and such. In one suchrespectable establishment (Dojo) the noble art of killing is taught bySensei (Togo Igawa) and amongst his students are his daughter Namiko(Mika Hijii), the ultimate pupil Masazuka (Tsuyoshi Ihara), an Americanorphan Casey (Scott Adkins), and a lot of cannon fodder.Namiko is probably the strongest and most potent fighter of the threeeasily beating Casey in combat in the beginning of the movie.Unfortunately she also has a severe weakness: in various key lifethreatening situations she forgets she is a trained deadly martialartist and indulges into the age-old tradition of screaming her faceoff playing a helpless female victim (albeit maybe this is a sinisterninjutsu ploy to distract the opponent and to make enemies ignoreNamiko?).Masazuka is set to take over the dojo from Sensei, but envious of theattention Casey receives from the ninja master, he loses himself duringa training combat and attempts to kill the hapless American. This endsin Masazuka being expelled from the institution, as killing is notaccepted in the ninjutsu code of murder. Or something like that.Naturally Masazuka turns bad and becomes a prominent assassin for hire.One of his best clients - the Temple Corporation, who has a secretivepara-fascist organisation, which loves shooting people in broaddaylight. However still stricken with regret and full of spite hedecides to take over by force the legacy of Sensei's ninjutsu, YoroiBitsu, an armoured chest that contains the weapons of the last KogaNinja.Fighting ensues, carpets of blood and bodies populate the streets ofthe movie and the good guys fight the bad guys...The plot is totally nonsensical. Extravagantly nonsensical. But unlikethe very enjoyable "Ninja Assassin" it fails to take a tongue and cheekapproach and just feeds us a bad movie with a bad plot with someexceptionally terrible acting... all of these flaws are supposedlysupposed to be glossed over by the impressive fight sequences and goodtech credits of the movie. Alas... in this time and age my expectationsare not so low as that.Despite some terrible acting (fronted by Scott Adkins and Mika Hijii)which reminded me of a Nigerian nollywood movie I watched a couple ofdays ago I must however commend a very convincing Tsuyoshi Ihara, whodoes a great job as the main protagonist.

(2012-05-02 11:30)

They bothered to make a DVD for this movie?

I've watched my fair share of horribly acted, bad movies. But in all honesty I'd rather watch some of the 70's and 80's kung-fu flicks than toss this DVD in the player. I rented the movie and watched it then couldn't drive fast enough back to the store to return the blasted thing.It's a bad movie, with bad actors, and a bad story. About the only good thing is the name and cover art.

(2012-05-01 05:37)

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!

(2012-05-01 02:26)

Time I will never get back

This movie was down right just HORRIBLE!!! It was sooo bad I had to forward through all the bad acting and dialogue just to get to the so-so action sequences I love a good ninja flick but this was not it.

emodit (2012-04-28 08:58)

In one word: fake

Just about everything about this movie is bad. The acting is hopeless.Most lines are cheesy. The story is waaay too simple and predictable.Lots - and I mean LOTS - of very fake and unnecessary CGI (eg. the fakeblood or the "batman's cape" scene). Even the fake wounds look stupid.Each and every one of the characters are dumb as dirt. For example: thegood guys watch the news and see themselves being wanted by the policeand the 'hero' immediately turns the TV off instead of watching it formore information. Not very ninja-like, I must say. The action issometimes unbelievable. The heroine is hit by a poisoned dart and sheIMMEDIATELY collapses to the ground (before even the poison couldspread in her body or anything). But it never occurs to her that shemight try to take out the dart from her neck. Dumb as dirt. A minutelater she still gathers enough strength to shoot an arrow though. And,by the way, she looks like she never actually held a bow in her life :PThe heroine is weak. Even street thugs beat her up although shesupposed to be a ninja, raised to be one from her birth. The hero isretarded. I mean ya, rly. The whole movie is about the magic gear ofthe last "real" ninja, which he actually uses at the end of the movie,and after he - quite predictably - beats the bad guy, he LEAVES thefreakin' magic sword lying on the street!The only redeeming feature is SOME of the fights. A few moves are quitegood actually. But sometimes you just see bad guys landing on theirfaces after being thrown away off-screen. Oh cr*p.So, only watch this movie if you are interested in martial arts fightscenes and you don't mind fast-forwarding the rest, but then again youcan find lots of better movies in that genre too.

mmaeramirez923 (2012-04-28 01:36)

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.

Wizard-8 (2012-04-26 22:28)

A worthy addition to the genre

I have been wanting to see a new ninja movie (that's good) for a longtime, and I was impatiently waiting for this one to be released, seeingthat it's a Nu Image/Millennium film (they make above averagedirect-to-DVD movies) and that it was to be directed by action expertIsaac Florentine. And I was overall satisfied. Granted, I could listsome flaws, such as the fact the Boaz Davidson screenplay containselements that will be familiar to those who have seen other ninjamovies in the past, and it has the hero on several occasions draggingthe female lead behind him despite the fact she's an accomplishedfighter like him. But there's a lot more to like. The movie is slicklymade, well-photographed and lit, and the chosen Bulgarian locationsmanage to pass off as New York (believe it or not!) The fight scenesare pretty brutal and exciting, resulting in some great splatter(though I wish the blood and gore had not been mostly done with CGI).Yes, this movie is far from great art, but if you are looking for ninjaaction, this movie delivers.

(2012-04-26 08:43)

Simple and good

This movie is very good despite the poor reviews. I thought the acting was very believable as well as the story. The story was simple and seriously done, which to me was refreshing. I am so tired of martial arts movies with elaborate plots that end up leaving you more confused than when the movie started. To me martial arts movies tend to get too bogged down with heavy plot and cheapen the action. This was not the case with this film. Instead the director seem focus on the action and choreography and keep the story concise enough the keep the audience engaged. I thought this was the best movie about the Ninja I have ever seen, however, the new Ninja Assassin movie has not come out yet on Blu-ray. At least when it does I will have something to compare it to.