Ninja Assasssin
"This is not my family. You are not my father. And the breath I take after I kill you will be the first breath of my life." - Raizo
release year: 2009
genre: martial arts action/drama
viewing setting: home Bluray 1/9/22 and 6/1/16 and 11/10/14 and 1/6/14 and 5/11/11 and 6/18/10 and theater, 11/29/09
synopsis: A renegade ninja assassin is hunted by other ninja, with violent, bloody results.
impressions: Secret ninja complex in mountains - check. Brutal training regimen started at young age - check. Massive amounts of shuriken thrown about - check. Ninja climbing walls like spiders and leaping about - check. Multiple swordfights - check. Massive amounts of gore - check. Skeptical non-Orientals who end up getting chopped into bits - check. Ninja masters doing impossible things and attributing it to ninja magic - check. Sho Kosugi in a major role - check. This movie has everything. Don't believe a word that this movie's detractors say - this is an instant classic and you must see it right now. Doubly so if you enjoyed the ninja movies of the early 1980s, such as Enter the Ninja and Revenge of the Ninja.
something this movie has that no other movie has: A running swordfight against moving traffic.
acting: "Rain" (who is apparently some kind of big musical star elsewhere in the world) is the young ninja protagonist. Naomie Harris is an agent who stumbles onto the existence of the ninja, pursues the thread too aggressively, and thus becomes a target (and still seems confused by why it alll happened.) Ben Miles is her boss, who wants to help but is shady. Veteran screen ninja Sho Kusugi is the lord of the ninja clan and a ruthless leader.
final word: The greatest ninja movie since the 1980s.
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