Ninja Assassin Makes Ninjas Cool Again
Ninja Assassin… here’s a film title I didn’t think could possibly make for good cinema. First of all, it’s redundant– all ninjas are assassins! It sounds like a really bad B-movie. But I saw the film anyway, and was very glad I did. Despite the silly title, Ninja Assassin is a surprisingly well-made, big-budget film that has deep affection for its genre and a good handle on character development.
It’s probably one of the bloodiest films I’ve ever seen, but that didn’t turn me off because the story is immediately engaging and each of the main characters is sypathetic, quick-witted, and given intelligent and interesting things to say. A lot of the credit for that should probably go to J. Michael Straczynski who co-wrote the film, and is best known for creating Babylon 5. This isn’t just a bunch of ninjas jumping around and fighting people– there’s a real story here, and Raizo is made a real person. He’s kidnapped as a child by a ninja gang and brought up to become a killer, and while he becomes one of the best there is, his relationship with one of the girls there helps him develop a conscience. When his training is finally over and he’s presented with the final test– kill a girl who, like his friend years earlier, tried to escape and therefore betrayed the “family”– he draws the line and fights his way into as free a life as he can get. I also like how, despite his hard life, he isn’t without a dry sense of humor.
This movie uses its flashbacks well. They aren’t just thrown in at random to give you glimpses of the past. They’re interwoven into the scenes of the present and shown in linier fashion, so it isn’t hard to remember the last part of that story. It’s like watching two subplots about the same character at the same time, and it does a lot to help the viewer appreciate the extremely harsh life Raizo has had and why he still kills, though not for the ninja gang. Even his mentor, who later becomes his enemy, is made sympathetic– he truly believes his group is a family and that there is honor in the bloody business they do. I was reminded a lot of Batman Begins; this ninja gang is a little like the League of Shadows and Raizo is a little like Bruce Wayne. He’s trained and believes in his training, but his mentor goes too far and they become enemies. That isn’t a criticism though– they are too very different movies, and it’s a similar story point that works well for both of them.
Ninjas have become a little over-saturated lately, like zombies, and I like that this movie doesn’t over-glorify them. When Raizo is brutalized by his mentor for losing a match with one of his “brothers,” is on the verge of death, and told to survive the night, it sure doesn’t make me want to be a ninja. I mentioned the League of Shadows, but these guys make them look like the postal service. Most people don’t have what it takes to become a ninja in this movie, and a lot of them die. Those who don’t are able to transcend human abilities– they can even heal themselves and run in short bursts at super-human speeds– and that’s the best explanation for ninjas having “super powers” I’ve ever seen. A lot of movies will say characters are trained to do these things, like it’s a mind-over-matter thing (Elektra is one example) but this film shows it and makes it quite believable.
By the third act, the film becomes much more about the action than it is about character drama, and I became a little disengaged by that point. I found it interesting that when it started getting action-heavy, it actually felt like the pacing was slowed down. It picks up again toward the end, though, when Raizo faces his mentor for the last time, and all that character stuff comes back to the forefront.
Not the best movie this year, but certainly one of the most entertaining.
LLAP
-Cap’n Logan
Tags: action, j. michael straczynski, Movie, ninja assassin, ninjas, rain, raizo, Review