Well, it was quite a let-down for me since most of the fights took place in the dark and I could hardly make them out.

I know, I know, ninjas are supposed to fight that way–in the shadows, but I was expecting that the fight scenes would have had a bit more lighting so that the audience could clearly see the movements. But of course, in the story itself, the actors would pretend that their surroundings are just a notch higher than “pitch-black,” you know what I mean?

And…well, I’m really just sorry to say that the story itself didn’t connect for me, I mean, I left the cinema asking myself: “That’s it? I think there should be more to it.” Like, it sort of fell short on establishing the main character. It did give us flashbacks on Raizo’s origins but, it didn’t clue us in on what went on with him between that time when he left the clan and up to the present time. I mean, how did he make a living? Was he now a freelance assassin for hire? Or was he maintained by an unknown benefactor or covert agency? Who was his contact who informed him that he should protect the female Europole agent who was the next target of his former clan? What was he doing in Germany?

The things that I liked about the movie was the way they showed the ninjas in a fresh and exciting manner. Didn’t know shurikens can penetrate kevlar helmets! And the way they swoosh through the air in full stereo made me bob my head every time I heard it, fearing that it might hit me! Hehe. I also like the idea they presented that swords and throwing knives can hold their own against automatic weapons (as long as you know what you’re doing).

And it was kinda’ fun seeing Sho Kosugi again after a very long absence. I mean, I grew up seeing this guy portraying ninjas in the movies.

Well, this just my personal experience with this movie. It fell short on some aspects but overall, it was okay enough I guess.

Thats why I didn;t recognize him. Thats a really small role. I thought he was one of the bad guys, one of the assetts out to kill Bourne.

Thanks

http://www.hotflick.net/flicks/2007_The_Bourne_Ultimatum/007TBU_Scott_Adkins_001.jpg

He played Agent Kiley…actually he was pretty much wasted (talent wise) in the fight scene with Damon so that’s not the best example of his work.

THE SHEPHERD: BORDER PATROL, although a below average, straight to dvd movie, really showed off his skills against his childhood idol, Van Damme (plus the fight choreography was done by JJ Perry who has done stunts for an insane amount of movies).

no offense but the dialog between myself and OGB hardly qualifies as omething in need of a reminder. Not all disagreements are arguments or bad. Its good for people to debate ideas as thats how the best gets flushed out from the junk. If we all agreed to never raise our voices or speak in disagreement we might as well say here take my freedom of speech because I don’t use it and therefore don’t need it anymore.

You remind me of my wife who’s always nagging me about speaking out and who refuses to speak above the level you do when standing right in fornt of someone even if you are in a room on the other side of the house and thats because like you she sees all raises in voice tone as being argumentative.

i just watched Bourne Ultimatum again last night and di not see where in the movie Scott appeared; what role did he play or was he merely a stunt double?

i’ve heard on “ninja” might see if i can find a copy somewhere, huge fan of adkins

I assure you, it’s not a knock off. I can’t assure you if you’ll like it or not. It’s definitely low budget, focuses on the story and the fighting, no CGI blood squirting everywhere

Just some background on the director, he focuses on martial arts movies. He directed some of my favorites: Savate (Oliver Gruner), Cold Harvest (Gary Daniels, one of the most underrated martial artists), Undisputed 2 (had some of the most badass fight scenes I’ve ever seen) and he also directed episodes of WMAC masters. He also directed some crappy flicks, so he’s not an A list director by any means.

Scott Adkins is an amazing stuntman/martial artist. His most famous roles were Bourne Ultimatum (the badass fighting scene) and Wolverine (he was Weapon XI). His smaller roles in Undisputed 2, The Tournament and The Shepher is where he truly shines and shows off his skills.

Sorry, don’t mean to make it this long.

Picked that one up last night but have not yet watched it but plan to. After my enjoyment with Ninja Assassin it will be tough for NINJA to be enjoyable but I will reserve judgement. I just hope it’s a stand alone movie and not one of those Knock offs that trys to take advantage of the marketing of the bix films as Trasnmorphers was to Transformers.

I really do hope this movie does well (I think it will considering it’s opening up against Old Dogs and The Road).

I would also recommend a movie that just came out called Ninja with Scott Adkins (one of the best stuntmen working today). Similar story, GREAT fight scenes, much more enjoyable.

Makes you wonder how bad or maybe just different it woudl have been if they (the brothers) had not gotten Staryzinski to do a last minute re-write; somethinG i read that he did in like 50 some hours time; rather quick. I loved Babylon 5 and many of Stravinskis graphic novels material but no matter how good you are a rush is a rush and I agree the story was very standardized and nothing sprising or mysterious.

That being said the matrial arts was way too cool. I wear glasses and have trouble seeing in dim light and so the comment about the lighting makes me wonder if perhaps the theatre I went to has the light for the projector at a higher level (if thats possible) or maybe something was technically at issue with the place you saw the film because even with my less then stellar vising I had no trouble seeing it all including the dim shadow outlines of the Ninjas.

I liked the violence but there was nothing behind it. This is a movie coming from the makers of the Matrix Trilogy and the director of V. None of the great storytelling, philosophies, etc. that I enjoyed in all those movies are here.

The acting is also passable at best.

The lighting was really distracting TO ME as I know how much work and stuntwork went into the martial arts scenes. I was so pumped that they didn’t use the “wire fu” and very little cgi for the fighting scenes. But then I spent most of the time trying to figure out what exactly happened in the action scenes.

That bugged me. It won’t bug others as much as it did me.

You totally missed the point of teh psot. It was a knock at the reviewrs you mentioned and not you.

As for the lighting it does make sense and I’ve seen the movie so I have a slight bit mroe weight behind my take on this then your since you haven’t seen it. Go see it and then if you still think the reviewrs were right about the lighting then at least you are speaking from experience having watched the movie.

Half the time I question if these professional movie critics even bother watching the movie verses skimming it and just rehashing what fellow critics say. Seldom do the mainstream critics praise a movie that is, financially speaking, a sucess.

What’s with the attitude? And it’s really ignorant to assume I’m not a martial arts fan and like Green Tomatoes and Driving Miss Daisy (I haven’t seen either of those btw).

Ignorance and attitude aside, I’m not the only one that thought this movie was disappointing. Rotten Tomatoes has it at 28% with MANY reviews mentioning the poor lighting.

As far as your reason for lighting, it makes no sense. It’s an action/martial arts movie. WHY on earth would the director choose to dim the lights to the point where sometimes you don’t even know what’s going on? Ninja or not, it makes no sense…it’s a movie.

ABSOLUTELY GO SEE IT! Judge for yourself and support these types of movies. I’m saying as a life-time martial art fan and practitioner I was very disappointed by the movie and I was trying really hard to like it despite its flaws and I just can’t

NINJA ASSASIN redefines the Martial Arts film genre. The movie as a whole feels (looks & plays out) very much like it was done by the group who did the awesome 300 movie but with far less blue screen. There’s plenty of blood beings pilled and it’s tastefully done by going with the same approach that 3000 and THE SPIRIT took where the blood is clearly not real but is intended to look like comic book blood in live action film.

As for all the poor lighting, I have one comment for that reviewer, its a freaking Ninja movie. Ninja’s don’t hide well within the mid day’s Summer light and so dark and poorly lit areas are kind of important for them to pull off their disappearing act. I have seen numerous American martial arts films as well as the more traditional ones like those done by now defunct GOLDEN HARVEST and Ninja Assassin easily holds its own with most all and beast out many. If Bruce Lee were alive today and still fast (I am assuming he would be somewhat slower post 50 years of age) and he made a film with the Wachowski Brothers it would look like Ninja Assassin.

All in all this was a great film that keeps you rooting for the lead and can easily cause you to subconsciously tense up yourself. I caught myself several times twisting and moving along with the action; been a long time since a film was intense enough to cause that kind of reaction.

Bottom line, if you like Driving Miss Daisy, Fried Green Tomatoes or even broader appealing films like Titanic then stay away from Ninja Assassin because the rest of us who do like the Martial Arts genre of films don’t want to read about your gripes with the film. If however you do like this kind of movie and enjoyed the Brice Lee or Jackie Chan films or those by Jet Lee and numerous other stars in the Martial Arts genre then go see this film and do it quickly so that it gets the box office push it deserves.