Ninja (2009)
Director: Isaac Florentine
Starring: Scott Adkins, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Mika Hijii
Synopsis:
An American disciple and heir apparent to a ninjitsu dojo must protect the dojo's treasures from an expelled student turned assassin.
Impressions:
I found it rather surprising that you could have a movie just titled Ninja as late as 2009, but there you go. You might be interested to know that this movie was written and produced by Boaz Davidson, the same man who blessed the world with American Cyborg: Steel Warrior. While the production company Nu Image Films isn't the Cannon Group or its equally defunct successor, it keeps much of the same spirit alive with dodgy B movies. It isn't a great story or particularly well-acted, but the action is decent, I'll credit lead Scott Adkins for that, and villain Tsuyoshi Ihara does become a little more entertaining when he goes full villain. Mika Hijii borders on faux action girl, which on the one hand is frustrating coming from a lifelong disciple of ninjitsu and the daughter of the current Souke, but on the other hand seems somewhat plausible when you set a 90-pound girl against three or four guys twice as big as she is. The decent fight choreography is offset by terrible digital effects. Said action may be enough for you to consider this to not be a total waste, but I can certainly understand passing this one over.
50/50