Rain Rain Go Away……

(Poster of Ninja Assassin which showed a furious ‘Rain’. The Fury was only in the posters.)

What could be the title, if any one attempt to write a review on the 2009 Ninja Movie; much hyped-up ‘Rain’ starrer, the ‘Ninja Assassin’? ‘Cuts, stabs,flying limbs and a bath in the blood’? ‘Ninja Assassin’, no doubt is another miserable product from the age old ‘you-killed-my-father-I-take-revenge’  school of martial arts movies. Who was that, who defined martial arts as, “People Train hard for years to make the worst movies in the world”. I guess it was a witty pot bellied couch-potato's take on ‘Karate’.

Anyways, who’s going to blame the cast of this movie, when there is no story to be told in the first place. Did the movie succeed in showing the legend of ninja terror and their bloody way of life? I don't think so. Ninja Assassin portrays Ninja clans close to a comic cartoon strip. There’s a scene where the lead lady (A clichéd Caucasian female character, ignorant about Asian ways) is asked to change into a new cloth to escape from the chasing Ninjas; She asks,

( Sho Kozugi as Ozunu,  father of the Clan, in one of the beautifully shot scenes in the movie)

“You mean they sniff like dogs?”
    All what Ninja Assassin got is a pathetic cast. Except the Baddie ‘Ozunu’ played by the Jap Action Movie legend Sho Kosugi, every one acted so miserably. Lead man Rain, who won the MTV’s  ‘biggest badass star’ award for his performance in this movie was amazingly emotion less in every single scene.On the female lead (Naomi Harris)? She’s in the wrong company here, and also helps to reduce the glam quotient of the whole movie. In another words, a better looking glam-dole in her place,wouldn't have hurt.

”Expression of No-Expression” (Al Pacino in his iconic role as Michael Corleoni in Godfather 2.)

When asked about his brilliant performance  in one of the greatest movies which Hollywood ever produced, Godfather II; Al Pacino reportedly told that, it was hard to emote emotionless. He had to play a ruthless but diplomatically calm underworld don ‘Michael Corleone’ who would not hesitate to kill his own brother, in order to protect the dignity of his crime-family/Mafia.

   Al Pacino said, he tried to listen to Beethoven during the shooting of movie, to keep a calm composure to express a non-expression.
   Rain had no such problem to be expressionless as he never tries to emote anything at all. Being  one of the most influential popular Music Icons from Korea, he had had tremendous  experience in appearing in the music albums and he probably took this as one of them.
Ninja Assassin shows, how an orphan named ‘Raizo’ from a Japanese clan of assassins turns against his own family. Movie unfolds in violent details, how he grows up to become a Ninja assassin with it’s painful training methods and how he matures into a Man who would dare to turn against his ruthless mentor and say, ‘This is not my family and you are not my father’.  And there are plenty of cuts, stabs, sword play, flying Shuriken, Swirling Kusarigama and lots and lots of blood. And to summarise, that's all about the movie.
Ninja Assassin has got no grace even in depicting graphical violence. Compare this to Quentin Tarantino’s style in Kill Bill. Kill Bill had all those scenes of gory but with a class of its own.

(Christopher Lambert on the poster of ‘The Hunted’)

The 1995 flick ‘The Hunted’ was a much better effort on portraying the myth of legendary ninja assassins.  Again, despite having a regular weak-turns-strong-beats-the-evil climax, it was thoroughly enjoyable; thanks to the cast of very talented actors like, Golden Globe Nominee John Lone and Japanese Academy Award Nominee Yoshiro Harada and also to a very good extend, the lead played by Christopher Lambert with that mysterious and famous myopic stare of his.

John Lone’s negative character ‘Kinjo’ had certain depth and definitely memorable along with Harada’s Character ‘Sensei Takeda’. Remember the scene where he cuts his samurai sword with his bare hands when the Airport Officials stops him from carrying it on the air plane. Who can forget his magnificent sword play as his character massacres a big group of Ninja Assassins in a moving train, which was definitely the biggest attraction of the movie.

(yoshio Harada:Hunted: What a screen Persona!)

(‘Kinjo’ Played John Lone: Hunted)

If I could recollect, ‘The hunted’ also exhibited the much exploited sensual charm of Japanese women in a Hollywood angle.   (Kusarigama:Sickle and iron ball fixed on a metal Chain- a dreaded Ninja weapon)

A worst Ninja Movie similar to Ninja Assassin that I can recollect is ‘Way of the Ninja’ (?) which was more like a regular American Karate movie which would remind you of those old ‘Chuck Norris’ type. Here, the American hero is trained in Ninjutsu and he cleans off the baddies with this special skill for his friend; and the plot thickens when the Villain goes to Japan to hire another Ninja to wield against our man.
Lets come back to ‘Ninja Assassin’ from the memories of better/worst Ninja flicks and end this with a little nursery rhyme…
“Rain Rain Go away…”