Country: USA | Germany
Language: English
Director: James McTeigue
I admired James Mcteigue for his work V for Vendetta, a film that proves that he is capable of good direction. However, Ninja Assassin is not admirable in any way.
The film has a lot of gore which, some think, gives an air of reality to a film. But here it gives you vomiting tendency. The storyline is completely flawed and has many discrepancies.
The film, supposed to be a Martial Arts film, is mediocre in every sense of the word. The fight sequences are filmed in such a way that you do not quiet understand what is happening. I think that is on purpose as the lead actor Rain is not a Martial Arts expert, but rather a singer. The other funny thing is that people know that the guy is Korean but he is shown to be a Ninja. This would have worked well 25 years back but now the viewers are well informed comparatively.
The last fight sequence is well filmed though: the one where the protagonist fights his father. The effect of fire in the background is very well orchestrated.
All the performances are mediocre including that of Rain’s.
It is saddening to see that a director of Mcteigue’s caliber has produced such a mediocre and incoherent work.
It is said that "You are only as good as your last (work)"...and that happens with actors, directors etc a lot. An occasional flash of brilliance, and then something tawdry. Maybe it is due to the studio system of movies, don't know.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the personal touch you have given to your review of the martial arts, it can see your own knowledge coming through.
And, I would add that I am very, very loathsome of movies where action sequences are purposely too fast, with fast editing cuts and a lot of sound and light, all intended to distract and not allow one to see the naked fight scenes. The trend of having completely 'anari' fighters doing these scenes is a deplorable one, and has been making even genuine martial artists (eg Jackie Chan, Jet Li) look bad, and useless people look good. My personal opinion is that with fight scenes you should stick to 2-3 angles with minimal cuts, to allow people to see the fully executed fight, and not just a jumble of movements. Alas, I know that won't happen.
I agree with you 100%
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