Ninja

Plot synopsis:
Casey Bowman is an American orphan who was adopted into a martial arts dojo in Japan. Because of his perseverance and desire to master bushido, he earns the respect of the dojo's sensei and his daughter Namiko. However, the dojo's top student Masazuka becomes bitter over Namiko's friendship with Casey until one morning, during a sparring match, he loses his temper and nearly kills Casey by throwing a katana at him. In defense, Casey scars Masazuka below his right eye. As a result of his actions, Masazuka is banished from the dojo by the sensei.
Years later, Masazuka becomes an assassin under contract with an American conglomerate called Temple Industries, which itself runs an underground criminal cult known as "The Ring". He returns to his former dojo and claims in vain the sensei's succession as sōke, but the sensei refuses to oblige. Anticipating an invasion by Masazuka, the sensei assigns Casey and Namiko to guard an old chest called the Yoroi Bitsu, which contains the suit and weapons of an ancient ninja. Before Masazuka storms through the dojo and murders the sensei, Casey and Namiko manage to take the Yoroi Bitsu to New York City, where they keep it safe at Triborough University's vault with the help of the sensei's friend Professor Garrison. They are tracked down by Masazuka, who sends Temple's thugs to take down the couple. While Casey and Namiko are on the run from the thugs, they are framed for the murder of Professor Garrison and arrested. During their interrogation, Casey is ridiculed by Detective Traxler (Todd Jensen) for his story of a ninja for causing the deaths of many innocent bystanders, yet the very ninja slips inside the station under disguise. Masazuka cuts the power in the precinct and takes down several police officers in the dark before incapacitating Namiko. In the midst of the chaos, Casey saves Traxler from being gunned down by Masazuka before the assassin leaves the premises with Namiko, while Casey himself disappears.
After receiving a tip-off through a member of Temple's thugs, Casey storms through Temple Industries, retrieving Masazuka's phone number from the firm's president. He calls Masazuka and sets up a meeting place to exchange the Yoroi Bitsu for Namiko's life. Casey then rushes to the university to retrieve the chest and don the ninja suit and arsenal. At a construction site, Masazuka releases Namiko once the Yoroi Bitsu is lowered from a crane, only to discover the chest emptied of its contents. The two men prepare for a final showdown, but members of The Ring stage an ambush under Temple's orders to kill the trio. Casey, Masazuka and Namiko dispatch the thugs before Masazuka uses a blowgun to shoot a poison dart at Namiko and taunts Casey with the antidote bottle. Masazuka, however, drops the bottle, forcing Casey into a fit of rage. As an NYPD helicopter flashes its spotlight on the fight, Masazuka uses a ninjutsu technique to blind Casey with the reflections from his katana and disappear in front of him, but Casey uses his instincts to counter-attack and impale Masazuka from behind. Casey is saddened that he is unable to save Namiko, but upon remembering his sensei's teachings of a ninja's katana possessing the power to both kill and heal, he discovers that the handle of his katana contains the antidote. Within seconds, the antidote neutralizes the poison as Namiko awakens. Before they leave, Casey grants Masazuka's wish for decapitation.
The next morning, Traxler informs Casey and Namiko that Temple has been arrested and The Ring has been broken. He then hands them their passports, telling them to leave New York for good. The couple return to Japan to pay their respects to their late sensei and continue running their dojo.

Tags: revenge, murder, violence

Review:
"Ninja" takes a similar formula and story from those ninja movies from the 80's and combines it with a hard hitting and acrobatic fighting style seen in today's martial arts movies.
This movie was a lot of fun and if you grew up watching ninja and martial arts movies in the 80s like me, you will definitely enjoy it..
Scott Atkins delivers the goods big time as the hero ninja Casey further cementing him as a go to action guy.
These guys are loosely involved with the main ninja bad guy who has a nasty scar, ooh nasty.You've got your Sensai betrayal, high tech ninja sh*t, stupid copper, traditional weaponry, beautiful girl and even a cameo from Batman.Could this film be any better?
The choreography is also well directed, which means you can actually appreciate every Japanese Ju Jitsu movement in this movie.Conclusion: A cool flick to watch with guys.
Give it a chance, if you want to see an above the average martial arts action film, with good direction and great (Ong Bak style, no wires and CGI) fight scenes, just please do not watch it for the acting..
I have been wanting to see a new ninja movie (that's good) for a long time, and I was impatiently waiting for this one to be released, seeing that it's a Nu Image/Millennium film (they make above average direct-to-DVD movies) and that it was to be directed by action expert Isaac Florentine.
Granted, I could list some flaws, such as the fact the Boaz Davidson screenplay contains elements that will be familiar to those who have seen other ninja movies in the past, and it has the hero on several occasions dragging the female lead behind him despite the fact she's an accomplished fighter like him.
The movie is slickly made, well-photographed and lit, and the chosen Bulgarian locations manage to pass off as New York (believe it or not!) The fight scenes are pretty brutal and exciting, resulting in some great splatter (though I wish the blood and gore had not been mostly done with CGI).
Yes, this movie is far from great art, but if you are looking for ninja action, this movie delivers..
Scott Adkins' Ninja: a very good movie with couple of flaws.
But despite its faults, I love this film and will be watching it time and time again (actually although I gave both of them same grade, I like this movie slightly better than Blood and Bone, because of my favoritism of Ninja movies )..
After all of these old Michael Dudikoff and David Bradley ninja films, finally something new this way comes.Now, I like this movie because it's cool and simple.
Now, let's see being an low budget action film, don't expect some super script, super plot, or good acting at all.
Well, Ihara didn't leave some good impression as a villain he is just jealous for being expelled from dojo, because he wanted to become a master and best ninja around, but circumstances brought him to the mercenary world.
The other interesting things are camera work, filming sets, I like the dojo very much, although it's not a real ninjutsu dojo, because, seems to me, that that dojo have more martial arts than one, if you look at the styles, there are definitely Karate, Judo, Jujitsu, Aikido, etc.So, overall, I recommend this decent stuff, it's good for action fans and for martial arts movie fans..
thought this movie is only a year or so old,it does sort of echo martial arts movies from the eighties.it's very action packed,and very stylish.unlike many movies of the genre,there actually more than a just a thread holding the story together.there a quite few spectacular fight scenes,and there a couple of fairly graphic deaths.i wasn't too impressed with the acting at first but then it improved as the movie progressed.the ending was a bit too predictable,in my opinion.but still,this was a good movie,overall.it was fast paced,and enjoyable.i'd watch it again.maybe not right away,though.would i recommend it?.absolutely.for me,Ninja is a 7/10..
Not only did it pay the perfect tribute to the Ninja and Martial Arts classics of the 80's and 90's ,but it took things to a whole new level with the creativity and choreography!
I honestly believe that anyone who is a true fan of Scott's or even Ninja movies in general will definitely love this film!
The acting was right on par with what you would expect to see in a martial arts action film.
For those that have commented that the last fight was a let down, I would really like to know what movie you were watching?
Along the time I've grown up, i've put aside action movies because we start to like more complex arguments and not much of explosions.However sometimes i like to watch some action movie, to steer way and to vary a little, so today I saw this movie and at the beginning it was sort of fun, besides the very same argument of most ninja movies, and its is not so bad after all.The thing that cripled me to come here make a comment, and believe me I'm not someone who comes here to make comments, furthermore to read, but this time it was way far so i must tell Who is the smart guy producing this that it is so mad, trought most of the fighting lines in the movie a sword can beat a pistol.
Its action scenes and fights are inventive and fun to watch, but the villain is nothing new or exciting.
The man is in great shape and totally sells the character of Casey Bowman, an American orphan raised in a Japanese dojo to become a ninja warrior.
If you've liked Adkins in any of his other movies, then this one is definitely worth a watch.
It's also recommended for those that are looking for a martial arts movie with good fights..
Kinetic and Semi-Slick Fun. A crackling good try at a new Ninja Movie release, this one has all the expected fights and flaws that Fans have come to expect.
It is a non-stop Action Movie and the Ninja handle is there for a background Story and is included in parts of the fighting but not all.It is a hybrid of sorts and not pure in in its Title's intent.
But that would put an end to the ever present elongated choreographed Kung-Fu Dance that could be called the "Hero vs Everybody at Once" part.Overall Worth a Watch for Action Fans and B-Movie Lovers..
Yesterday i saw NINJA.I am very impress to see this flick.Scott Adkins's performance is very good.Action sequences is also impressive.Story is just OK.This movie is much better than NINJA ASSASSIN in every term.Film location are good.Script are also good.Music is suit the film.The Most good thing in the movie is Scoot Adkins's action and performance.All the stunts seances are original.Plot of the story is also good.Train seances are very good and impressive.
In one such respectable establishment (Dojo) the noble art of killing is taught by Sensei (Togo Igawa) and amongst his students are his daughter Namiko (Mika Hijii), the ultimate pupil Masazuka (Tsuyoshi Ihara), an American orphan Casey (Scott Adkins), and a lot of cannon fodder.Namiko is probably the strongest and most potent fighter of the three easily beating Casey in combat in the beginning of the movie.
Unfortunately she also has a severe weakness: in various key life threatening situations she forgets she is a trained deadly martial artist and indulges into the age-old tradition of screaming her face off playing a helpless female victim (albeit maybe this is a sinister ninjutsu ploy to distract the opponent and to make enemies ignore Namiko?).Masazuka is set to take over the dojo from Sensei, but envious of the attention Casey receives from the ninja master, he loses himself during a training combat and attempts to kill the hapless American.
However still stricken with regret and full of spite he decides to take over by force the legacy of Sensei's ninjutsu, Yoroi Bitsu, an armoured chest that contains the weapons of the last Koga Ninja.Fighting ensues, carpets of blood and bodies populate the streets of the movie and the good guys fight the bad guys...The plot is totally nonsensical.
But unlike the very enjoyable "Ninja Assassin" it fails to take a tongue and cheek approach and just feeds us a bad movie with a bad plot with some exceptionally terrible acting...
in this time and age my expectations are not so low as that.Despite some terrible acting (fronted by Scott Adkins and Mika Hijii) which reminded me of a Nigerian nollywood movie I watched a couple of days ago I must however commend a very convincing Tsuyoshi Ihara, who does a great job as the main protagonist..
I agree with some review that this film does take the concept of the old America ninja film's & makes it better for todays martial art film's & with Scott Adkins playing the lead role make's the martial arts fight scene so much better.What this film does as well, is capture the true beauty of Japanese martial arts & the way of a samurai fighting with the sword.
It also capture the culture of tradition, discipline & training of Japanese martial arts which really set a realistic tone for the film.I find this film brilliant done those who say that Scott Adkins can't act seriously haven't got a clue in acting because you give any actor the right role, that where the acting skills shine through with the right storyline & character.This is a brilliant made film, the fight scene are amazing with Ariel combat kicks special the one scene with Scott Adkins really show homage to the great Bruce lee with taking on a lot of guy on at once just one hell of a brilliant fight scene.This is one film I recommend you watch if you loved the 80s America ninja or grow up on martial arts of that theme this one wont disappoint..
The depiction of the Japanese culture is very authentic, although no such school of ninja really exists, the scenery, the outfit all are what students of kobudo (ancient martial arts) actually wears in their dojos.The quality the producer and the director put into this movie shows.
However things just don't get as planned when another student goes renegade against their former master and seeks to take the armor for himself.Don't expect any surprises in the storyline, it is the action which counts!Scott Adkins is Casey and although most of critics will say that his acting is not good, I found it pretty convincing.He acts with nerve and besides that his stunts and choreography are stunning, much more than someone would expect to see in a DTV production.
Nu Image films has raised the level for action movies with its latest productions (Command Performance and Rambo) and the funs of this kind are sure that more good work will come.Tsuyoshi Ihara and Mika Hijii perform also pretty good.
NINJA is a low-budget but kick-ass action vehicle for British martial arts star Scott Adkins, who continues to wow with his own unique brand of high-kicking, tough-punching martial arts fighting.
Of course, various bad guys are soon after him.Anyway, don't worry about the story; focus instead on the plentiful action, both ninja and otherwise.
Of course, Isaac Florentine has directed loads of these things and I suspect he's starting to get rather good at this.The cast is about average for a DTV martial arts flick; Adkins is slightly wooden but an absolutely brilliant fighter, so you forgive him.
This really is a below average ninja movie, from the dialogue to the acting to the action, almost everything is just way too cheesy and lame.
The main reason I decided to watch this was because I enjoyed "Undisputed 2 and 3" and was entertained by Scott Adkins performance, mainly fighting choreography in those movies.
This isn't a terrible ninja movie, but there is a lot of flaws and the script is just laughable at times.
It's quite scary when the Ninja movies of the 80s are better than what they make today.The girl who is suppose to be a ninja,and the love interest of our hero ,can't fight her way out of a wet paper bag.
Just so they can prolong the part where she is damsel in distressThere are lot of bad things to say about some of the ninja movies that came out in the 80s.
This film is a throw back to 80's action flicks with an emphasis on martial arts and the Ninja subculture.
This movie showcases Scott Adkins amazing martial art skills and stunt work.
Anyone who grew up watching 80's action movies and ninja movies will enjoy this film.
Overall I found this movie enjoyable and I hope they continue making sequels as long as Scott Adkins is the main hero/character..
American films about ninja are never good, but I thought that since Scott Adkins was in it, it was worth checking out.Unfortunately, the ludicrous beginning only set the scene for the badness to come, as clichés gave way to thoroughly inept acting and comic-esque villains who were infinitely more cheesy than intimidating.Honestly struggling not to turn it off after 10 minutes, I somehow lasted 30 until the pain got the better of me and I thought I owed it to myself, as a decent human being, to watch something else instead.Nut shell: if you want martial arts, action, suspense or even tolerable acting, check out something else..
There is also a girl that the hero falls in love with by the end of the movie after the obligatory climatic fight scene.In addition to the above there are so many things about the plot that just didn't make sense to me that I can't remember all of them.
like many of you, i enjoyed watching ninja movies when i was a kid and this one hit the spot, it actually brought back some good memories.
I gave it 3 stars because it had some decent action scenes, that were not all close ups like in so many of the new movies!
Look, I know martial arts doesn't have a nationality, but it's been a long time since I saw a westerner do such a good job in a screen fight.
Though the flaws don't make this a terrible movie, they do deter from some of the film's positive aspects.The film tells the tale of American orphan Casey who is raised into a clan of ninjas and rivaled by an equally powerful warrior.
I'd actually watch it again for the same reasons I sometime watch "American Ninja", i.e. so I don't forget the lines like:Soldier-Sir, have you ever heard of ninjitsu, the ancient art of assassination?
Not a great story, the action though is entertaining, lots of stunt moves but a kind of overused beginning for Ninja movies, corny ending with a kind of disappointing final showdown, a couple of actors a tad bit over-the-top that makes the dialogue a little funny from time to time.
Overall I'd give it say 7 out of 10, it's not a GREAT Movie, but its fairly good if you're looking for a movie with action and little story to it.
No wonder there was a Ninja 2 (2013) - fans clearly wanted more, and we can see why.Like any good action movie, Ninja actually has a strong, central hero in Adkins (and his trusty sidekick Hijii) as well as a super-evil baddie.
Ihara makes a great foil for Adkins as he plays the bad ninja - the guy who was expelled from the dojo and proceeds to break from ancient ninja tradition by using cheats like night-vision goggles.
This sets the stage for the action we are about to see.Ninja delivers the goods - cool ninja violence and a panoply of engaging fight scenes.
If we have ONE criticism it's the over-use (or use, period) of CGI - and because it's Nu Image, we all know what this looks like - but Ninja gets a pass because all the rest is good, and because it's in that Florentine style we all know and love: exaggerated motions and big, oversized actions.
Ninja 2009 Trailer gave me so much expectations, it delivered some great scenes and looked like a true Japanese ninja-themed motion picture.
After 30 years of ninja being around, this movie look more like an Scot Adkinss advertiser.
First, I thought "another ninja movie, how original..." but the good reviews made me watch it and, I must say, it wasn't a disappointment.
They were more close to real martial artists then any other ninja movie, making it quite believable it could be real.
The plot is nothing new or original-and goes like this: an American who was orphaned in Japan is brought up as a ninja.
whatever.I thought the baddies were particularly cheesy and it added a nice throw back feeling to the movie!All in all, if your stuck for some old school ninja action, check it out, it's a laugh..
But, at several points, it felt like it could have gone either way.Now, while Ninja is everything you've been trained to believe a film with ninja in the title can't be (namely good), there are a few points of contention I had with it.
I have watched so many ninja movies over the years, so, the thought of another modern one excited me.
No, I have nothing against fighting like that, but I do when they are suppose to be ninjas!!!
It had all the stuff a ninja movie should have.What would those things be?A somewhat thin storyline with lots of fight scenes.
You'll think Godfrey Ho is back and working for Nu Image as good ninja Adkins must fight bad ninja Tsuyoshi Ihara (following Sho Kosugi's career path?) in New York (obviously sets in Bulgaria).
this is a warning to fight film fans who are looking for good martial arts.