Ninja
2009; directed by Isaac Florentine

For a straight-to-DVD release, Isaac Floretine's Ninja isn't too bad. While the film-makers didn't have much of a budget to work with, star (and cult favorite) Scott Adkins obviously has some formidable martial arts skills, and this movie is a decent showcase for them, delivering a copious amount of action during its' running time.

The high action quotient is a good thing, because, frankly, the story isn't exactly Shakespearean. Adkins plays Casey, an orphaned gaijin who is taken in by a ninja master, trained in the dark arts, and eventually tapped to become the new leader of the dojo. This creates friction with Masazuka (Ihara Tsuyoshi) who ends up being kicked out of the school. Bent for revenge, Masazuka begins a pursuit of the Yoroi Bitsu, a chest of weapons from a legendary ninja. Tasked with protecting the chest, Casey heads to New York City, where he soon not only finds opposition from Masazuka, but also a mysterious and deadly group known as The Ring.

For those viewers who actually pay attention to the story, there's a lot of holes to be filled in. Who are The Ring, and why are they hanging out in Dr. Evil's underground lair? How come Casey's adventures in New York City all seem to revolve around the same one or two blocks? And, most importantly, if protecting the sacred ninja weapons was the whole point of this adventure, wouldn't using (and losing) most of them kind of negate everything?

The slip-shod nature of Ninja is perhaps par for the course for these types of movies, but it was still a bit disappointing, because it felt like there was some untapped potential here that ended up being wasted because the film-makers tried to add too many parts into the mix. When the movie concentrates on the action, it provides some fun -- just not enough that the viewer can forgive the shoddiness of the elements that surrounds them.

RATING: 6