A triple-cross plot with Harris's superiors doesn't help the movie's clarity--neither does the clattering sound design. Shouldn't throwing stars be silent? If they're gonna sound like gunshots, why not just use guns?
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
St. Louis Post-Dispatch by Joe Williams
This amateurish action flick is so lacking in personality or punch, it ought to be titled "V for Video Store Discount Bin."
Chicago Tribune by Michael Phillips
Numbingly gory when it isn’t just plain numbing.
How is an action movie that aims for kinetic thrills supposed to develop any forward momentum when it spends so much time looking back?
Miami Herald by Rene Rodriguez
You don't go into a movie called Ninja Assassin expecting a hell of a lot, but this shockingly disjointed and relentlessly dull picture can't even deliver the martial-arts kick its title so plainly promises.
The finest effect in this visceral gouge of a picture is Korean pop star Rain.
It’s like Bob Fosse night at the martial-arts studio. Most of the killing here is done with bladed throwing stars that, like the ninjas themselves, arrive from nowhere. They appear to have been used to edit the film as well.