Ninja
(2009/First Look Blu-ray + DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B-/C+ Extras: D Feature: C-
If the
concept was not played out beyond reproach, here is yet another film with
ninjas and a very original title: Ninja. Yes, this 2009 hackfest (pun intended) has
some good fighting, but just about everything else about this dud is boring,
formulaic, tired, clichéd and even embarrassing. Scott Adkins tries to be the next action
star, but is not shot very well, is not given anything interesting to do and this
goes on and on and on for 92 long minutes.
Also the
inclusion of Yakuza in unconvincing and Japan is not exactly shown at its
best here. The result is something only
the most hardcore addicts of this tired subgenre should bother with. Director Isaac Florentine seems to have few
ideas in how to make this really work.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image is not only soft, but has strobing
issues, choppy movement like we have rarely seen in the format, other motion
blur and softness in many scenes. When
the image is stable, it can look good, but that is not often enough. As a result, it is no better than the
anamorphically enhanced DVD which hides some of these flaws and has less
definition versus the better scenes.
That leaves the sound, where the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix on the Blu-ray is
a little better than the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on the DVD, but this is not the
best soundmaster overall with awkward soundstage and often harsh, digital
sounding recording. There are no extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
