Korean pop-star Rain as a ninja/assassin.

Korean pop-star Rain as a ninja/assassin.

Blood spurting in every direction, mindless (yet awesome) violence, a hot Asian guy playing the lead role; sounds like the action packed film that could only be known as “Ninja Assassin.”

“Ninja Assassin” is a movie about an outcast of a secret assassin clan seeking vengeance for his friend’s death with the help of a Europol agent whose life is also threatened when she attempts to uncover the clan’s existence.

Even with its action-packed, karate butt-kicking; creepy shadow-Ninja affects that make you wish that the lights would turn on; or even the awesomeness of seeing Rain’s beautiful body without a shirt, the movie was still bland and unentertaining. You would think that director James McTeigue, who is most known for the film “V for Vendetta,” wouldn’t leave his characters so flat, and add a bit more complexity to them.

It’s bad enough when the actors in movies are not very good, but when a film has dissatisfactory acting and a faulty script, it loses its power. Rain’s role was a difficult one to play in that he lacks lines to really display his character, but there were moments when he could have added some depth to the story through physical exhibition.

His counter-part Naomie Harris, on the other hand, did her part well, but the chemistry between the two just wasn’t really there. It’s as if they didn’t even try to act like their lives depended on each other, or that there was a growing friendship.

Being that the Wachowski brothers, known most for their work in “The Matrix” series, produced the film, a set of stories within the story would be expected. What shouldn’t be expected is the disorganization of these stories. They had the main character have a series of flashbacks that explained the present situation, but it was as if these flashbacks were just thrown into the beginning of the movie; no triggers for these distant memories, just randomly trying to explain what caused what and when.

The choreographed fights were pretty intense, though. The audience was left in suspicion during the fights, wondering whether or not the good guy would actually survive. There was an excess of blood all over the place that made the deaths unrealistic, but the gory nature did pump some adrenaline and make you want to run to the nearest karate center. The graphics and scene set-up were about the same; blowing audience member’s minds as Rain jumped all around dodging Ninja stars and flying swords.

All together, this film is not meant to be thought-provoking or inspiring; this a movie you see when you feel like putting your mind on auto-pilot and watching blood-spattering violence as well as seeing a hot Asian pop-star-gone-actor’s rippling muscles.

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