Ninja Assassin DVD Review
SoHood.com Reviewed by: Michelle Thomas
Movie Rating:  4.0 out of 5
Extras Rating: 4 out of 5

Overview: 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.

We begin by watching Raizo (Rain) go through a lot as a child from getting real tough love from his master Ozunu (Shô Kosugi) who trains young children into becoming Ninja Assassins. Raizo’s girlfriend as a child Pretty Ninja (Linh Dan Pham) tries to run away but she is then killed. Raizo then finds himself not happy with his master Ozunu. He disobeys an order to kill a female ninja and they nearly kill him. But he survives and escapes the Ozunu Clan and waits for his revenge.

While he waits, enter Mika (Naomie Harris) who is a researcher for her superior Ryan Maslow, she discovers that murders are taking place by the Ozunu Clan. When they find out that she is snooping around and knows what is going on, then a hit is put on her. We then are thrust into a lot of action sequences and it’s a thrill ride.

By the way, Rain doesn’t disappoint in his second US film. He is a superstar in Korea where he is first a hip hop singer than actor.  For one thing I will caution people with kids, that this movie is not for the faint hearted. There were awesome stunts, which I know or I assume Rain did almost all. I hope he makes more US movies. He trained really hard for all the martial arts moves in this action movie and is perfecting his English, which can be hard to do coming from another country.

I have seen many martial art movies over a span of 20 years, and this is one of the best ninja films in a while.