i feel i largely underrated this upon release. it scans now much less like a Golan-Globus homage (and not an entirely successful one) than manga-inspired, closer to something like Baby Cart. and while i generally deplore the use of CGI blood, it's deployed pretty advantageously here. first, there's a shitload of it, everywhere, which i'm in favor of no matter how it's achieved. second, and more importantly, ninja business is best done in the dark, an element most ninja movies tend to have a tough time capturing, and the digital blood here allows a much more graphic approach to framing and cutting the shadow/nighttime stuff, almost like McTeigue is using its plastic brightness to direct your eye. it's pretty lovely.

still, of the "modern" stuff this is not as good as Florentine's NINJA or my personal favorite, the Christopher Lambert vehicle THE HUNTED.

I got tired of watching bad horror movies, so I skipped over to the mindless-action-genre a bit. What I got was a great homage to the Ninja movies of the 80's, filled with violence, blood and ninjas.

There was also a clichéd, but fun, conspiracy plot that I didn't pay much attention to, to be honest. I was too busy observing the beautiful and insane levels of blood and violence.

James McTeigue directs with a fantastic, anime-like visual flair. I think I really like him, actually, after this and V For Vendetta. I have still to see The Raven, which hopefully looks good, at least. I'm not expecting much else from it, to be honest.

Severely underrated film from the Wachowskis and their protege, James McTeigue. "Ninja Assassin" is stylishly photographed on a low-budget and filled to the brim with ultra-gory violence, often feeling like an anime come to life. It features enough ninja training flashbacks to last a lifetime, while the presence of 80's icon Sho Kosugi serves as a welcome bonus for anyone who remembers the Golan-Globus era.

In fact, I dare say this movie is more of a tribute to 80's-style action than "The Expendables," what with our well-oiled hero dispatching foes with ease despite grievous flesh wounds and a delirious climax involving a SWAT team attacking a secret ninja lair. Haters be damned, "Ninja Assassin" is one of the most potent guilty pleasures of the past 10 years.

Stylish, silly "fun", with really outdated blood. The stylish parts sadly spends more time undermine the action-sequences, rather than underline them.

Weak acting, weak storyline, and I'm not that impressed with the 21st century ninjas. I guess I'll rather go old school.

Apart from the CGI blood, I quite like this. Which was a surprise.

The mash-up of "Ichi The Killer" style violence with a pretty straight-forward Hollywood actioner is a bit jarring, but the fight-scenes are motivated and mostly ok, Noami Harris is always watchable, and Rain is pretty solid in the lead role, where nothing much is asked of him other than a tight tight body and some impressive physical stunts.

Mostly harmless

Stupid, bloody, over-the-top fun.

pretty fun to watch and it's cool how the ninjas were like the equivalent of monster in movies like aliens or the descent.

Of its type, above average

Lots of martial arts action - with blood.

You musn't be shy about tons of blood and brutal slashing, but the movie also has some depth to it and I like the overall feel of it.

i feel i largely underrated this upon release. it scans now much less like a Golan-Globus homage (and not an entirely successful one) than manga-inspired, closer to something like Baby Cart. and while i generally deplore the use of CGI blood, it's deployed pretty advantageously here. first, there's a shitload of it, everywhere, which i'm in favor of no matter how it's achieved. second, and more importantly, ninja business is best done in the dark, an element most ninja movies tend to have a tough time capturing, and the digital blood here allows a much more graphic approach to framing and cutting the shadow/nighttime stuff, almost like McTeigue is using its plastic brightness to direct your eye. it's pretty lovely.

still, of the "modern" stuff this is not as good as Florentine's NINJA or my personal favorite, the Christopher Lambert vehicle THE HUNTED.

Oh the Ninja-movie genre, they kidnapped their wife, now he’s going to kick and punch them to death. But even this simple rule they could not keep it right. The film starts with some good ball chopping karate, but quickly it gets to some plot involving CIA agents and a bunch of guys trained since kids to be ninja mothefucking assasins and I got lost doing other things simultaneous (cleaning the room, matching socks…).
At the end I noticed that there is one good ninja and that they didn’t have money to produce real scenarios so everything is CGI crap. This movie is so cheap that they even opt for guns a lot of time to actually kicking balls, it’s just weirdly lazzy!

Well, I love that it's a ninja film, and in many ways it is very much like the ninja films of the '80s, even featuring genre legend, Sho Kosugi, in a pivotal roll, but the biggest issue with this film is the awful special effects. I can deal with the weak script, mediocre acting and the overall hokiness of it all, but when the action hits, it's all too fake. And I mean fake in a fake way, not in a ninjas aren't real fake way.

Lee Joon *drools*
Rain *drools*
That's pretty much all I got from this film. It was fun though.

Stylish, silly "fun", with really outdated blood. The stylish parts sadly spends more time undermine the action-sequences, rather than underline them.

Weak acting, weak storyline, and I'm not that impressed with the 21st century ninjas. I guess I'll rather go old school.