Salt Lake Tribune Review
Like a shark attack, this martial-arts drama is constantly moving, thrashes around a lot and is as bloody as all get-out. The Korean pop star Rain ("Speed Racer") stars as Raizo, rebel outcast of a clan of hard-trained ninja warriors, who protects a law-enforcement researcher (
Naomie Harris, the voodoo priestess of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series) from the killers he once called brothers. Director
James McTeigue ("V For Vendetta") creates some energetic martial-arts set pieces. He also brings some edgy style to the iconic origin story, flashing back to Raizo's training under the harsh Master Ozunu (played by '80s ninja-movie legend Shô Kosugi). But the gory decapitations and gushing blood -- imagine filling a million balloons with cherry Kool-Aid and using them in a water-balloon fight -- turn the action scenes into an indistinguishable sea of red.
-- Sean P. Means
Bloody Smart
Submitted by: Bill McGee
An interesting story, incredible action done without wires, and more blood than any three movies you can think of. Usually, bad movies cover their mistakes with violence, but this film defies that description, though from the first jaw-dropping (literally) fight scene you know you're in for a rough ride. Rain, the lead actor, is an awesome specimen of physical strength and agility, and when you know that his stunt work was all real (no wires) you'll be all the more impressed with the end result.
The rundown: Blood spurts in this martial-arts drama, about a renegade ninja (Korean pop star Rain) battling his former clan. Good set pieces, but repetitious. 99 minutes. (SPM)
Synopsis: Raizo is one of the deadliest assassins in the world. Taken from the streets as a child, he was transformed into a trained killer by the Ozunu Clan, a secret society whose very existence is considered a myth. But haunted by the merciless execution of his friend by the Clan, Raizo breaks free from them...and vanishes. Now he waits, preparing to exact his revenge. In Berlin, Europol agent Mika Coretti has stumbled upon a money trail linking several political murders to an underground network of untraceable assassins from the Far East. Defying the orders of her superior, Ryan Maslow, Mika digs into top secret agency files to learn the truth behind the murders. Her investigation makes her a target, and the Ozunu Clan sends a team of killers, led by the lethal Takeshi, to silence her forever. Raizo saves Mika from her attackers, but he knows that the Clan will not rest until they are both eliminated. Now, entangled in a deadly game of cat and mouse through the streets of Europe, Raizo and Mika must trust one another if they hope to survive and finally bring down the elusive Ozunu Clan.
