Naomie Harris became more than just your average Moneypenny in Daniel Craig’s James Bond movies, but she really got to show off some action skills in the mostly forgotten action thriller, Ninja Assassin. Coming from James McTeigue, the director of the critically acclaimed V for Vendetta, and with a production team including The Wachowskis, the martial arts movie came with some high expectations that it failed to live up to – and that seemingly makes it perfect for a free-streaming resurrection.
Released in 2009, Ninja Assassin stars Rain (aka Jeong Ji-Hoon), Harris, Ben Miles, and Rick Yune, among others, but despite seemingly having a strong mix of talent, the film failed to land its punches with either critics or audiences thanks to some “incomprehensible” editing and an “over-serious” execution. The synopsis of the movie reads:
“Trained in methods of killing from an early age, Raizo (Rain) is a member of the secret clan of assassins known as the Ozunu. After the Ozunu kill his friend, however, Raizo breaks free from them and vanishes. Meanwhile, Europol agent Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris) discovers a money trail linking the group to murders. Raizo saves Mika from his former comrades and joins forces with her to bring down the Ozunu forever.”
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‘Ninja Assassin’ Is a Movie With a Lot of Flaws but Still Delivers the Action
Warner Bros. Pictures
Action movies can often take a beating from critics for being thin on plot and over-the-top with action sequences beyond belief. While Ninja Assassin scored only 26% from Rotten Tomatoes critics, its main failing seemed to come down to strangely lacking the one thing that the Wachowskis, and indeed McTeigue, became known for when working on The Matrix movies – a sense of highly choreographed flair.
Some critics called the movie “uninvolving,” while others called it a “lazy waste of talent.” However, for David Jenkins of Time Out, it was, “A garish and poorly filmed chop-socky frolic that makes about as much sense as an Escher painting viewed through Vaseline-smudged Ray-Bans.” Now there’s a “rotten” review that really makes you want to see if that is true.
While audiences were not completely enthralled by the film, scoring it 54% on the Popcornmeter, the middle-of-the-road rating is a combination of adoration and so-so comments, with very few slamming the movie as the score would suggest. One review from Amaz D called it an “absolutely amazing movie,” and another from Angelo L stated that “Anyone who says this is a poorly made movie is obviously a puny, jealous, envious person. In my honest opinion, this had got to be the best martial arts movie ever made.” Perhaps a little strong considering the film also comes with comments like “This is not a Ninja movie, this is a piece of sh-t,” and “How did this come from the same mind behind V for Vendetta?”
Sixteen years on from its theatrical release – which did double the $30 million budget – Ninja Assassin seems to be just the right piece of overly-violent revenge cinema that fans seem to crave more and more of. Thankfully, Tubi has everyone covered, and it would not be surprising to see the film kicking higher than its current #7 position on the streamer’s movie chart.
Source: FlixPatrol
You can view the original article HERE.
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