Shinobi

First I should say that I watched the subtitled version of this film but apparently there is an English dub on the North American release. Make no mistake, this IS an action movie. It is not as heavy on plot or characterization as similar films of the genre, and focuses more on matrix-like ninja fighting and great costumes. This is not necessarily a bad thing though as it does these things very well. The special effects are some of the best I've ever seen in a Japanese feature, and the overall cinematography is great. The story is pretty light and you really want to know more about some of the characters who are introduced in a totally classic "Good The Bad and the Ugly" style with their names being displayed on the corner of the screen as they are introduced.

The story centers on a pair of star-crossed lovers from rival ninja clans. The Tokugawa Government has just taken control of Japan and a new era of peace has broken out. To preserve this peace the Shogun decides that the two ninja clans must be destroyed, for their abilities are simply too dangerous and unpredictable. So the Shogun orders the two clans to each pick their five best warriors who will then battle to the death for the favor of the Shogun. Chosen to lead their respective clan's teams are the two unfortunate lovers who thought a new age of peace would allow their love to bloom, as rivalry between their clans was no longer necessary in their view – now in a cruel twist of fate they must battle to the death. This is pretty much where the story ends, and the rest of the film is a cat and mouse game between the two ninja teams as they use their seemingly supernatural abilities against each other. The team members themselves are all very interesting and I found myself wanting to know more about them but was disappointed by the rate in which they are killed off.

Overall the film is well worth watching and is smarter than your average action film, but not by much.

Shinobi is a story about 2 Shinobi tribal villages that must went on a deadly fight. The Lord of the Lords is a man that runs a neutral faction among the Shogun Kingdom but that everyone is bond and obeys, and when he, under clerical/military advice, promotes and proclaims that the 2 Shinobi villages must choose each 5 of their great warriors to battle until death, things turn awry.

The problem is that one beautiful woman of one of the villages falls in mutual love with a man from the other village. Love and war collide. Is the love between them so strong that can stop the war? Shinobi is a movie packed with astounding nature scenes, (I wonder if still exists such nature landscapes thru Japan...) a surprisingly impressive fight choreography and a fair story.

I really advise everyone to see this movie!

If we are looking for elaborated Japanese story, this movie is not as elaborated as (for example) Kurosawa's Samurai trilogy. If we are looking for the actions, the movie does not offer much too. This movie is a bit of everything: romance, action, etc.

However, what I really like in this movie is the eastern philosophy. Something like "love is not everything, above love there is honor (of the clan) and the obligation (towards the government)". And also about submitting to fate; like the immortal one who choose to die by inhaling the poison, simply because he accepts that "Our time has passed".

Furthermore, this movie help me to empathically see how difficult it is to be a leader; to change the vision of the members, when the members are not ready to leave the old vision. Gennosuke fails to convince his 4 warriors about the importance of avoiding the fight; I can only imagine how hard it is for a leader to convince millions of citizens to do something different.

I think this movie has enough romance and fighting to please most people.. but those wanting to see nothing but action will be disappointed! The ninja techniques are not neglected in this story, these are special techniques and not just those used by the average assassin dressed in black. I don't like fantasy special effects most of the time and I thought these were fine. Some people have said that the main part of the story is the romance, I agree but I think it depends on how much you like that compared to the fighting.

The mix of genres is quite evenly balanced though. In the end you should be quite pleased if you like one particular genre and maybe very pleased if you love them all.

If I had a problem with this movie it would be that I wanted to know one or two characters better, maybe through hearing them talk about something else or seeing a bit of their daily life. They all wanted to show off their ninja techniques instead :) It's nice, I hope you enjoy it.

"Shinobi" presents us with an epic tale of love, hate, political manipulation and the plight of the underdog against an overwhelming foe, be it a tangible foe or fate itself. The coolest part about this movie is the background and super power of each character, each one being original, fascinating and deeply layered as we learn in bits and pieces. The worst part about this movie is that it falls back on a few clichés that may annoy you in this otherwise unusual spin on the classic "love in the time of hate" story.

First the cool stuff. The plot centers around a fight to the death between 2 teams with 5 warriors on each team. Here's the thing: each warrior has a unique power which isn't spelled out for us. We need to piece it together what their power is and how they got it. These aren't just a bunch of sword swingers running through the forest; they each have a very specialized skill that they stick to (often not even involving weaponry).

For example, one character is a woman who was raised on poison, and so she has literally the kiss of death. But it goes deeper than that. Having the kiss of death means that she can never know true love because all her lovers would die, and so she leads a tragic life, existing only for the sake of killing though she years to know what love is. How cool is that!

Other characters possess similarly complex powers which lead to deep conflicts in life, and you realize that even the most ruthless ones have an unspoken human side.

The main story focuses on two lovers who, you guessed it, end up on opposite teams. Here is where the Shakespearean question of fate plays heavily. One of them believes that they can somehow beat their tragic fate while the other is resigned to a hopeless ending. What I loved about this movie (at first) is that it doesn't waste time with waffling sensibility: right off the bat, the lovers refuse to fight and they make their peaceful intentions known. But slowly they start getting dragged into the inevitable violence.

But unfortunately the film later falls back on a few clichés which we've seen dozens of times before in other tales of love and war, and that's where I dock Shinobi a few points. With its original setup, I was hoping it was going to stay in that vein and avoid what so many other films have done. It does stay unique, but one or two critical plot elements were pure cookie cutter. Making matters worse, these plot elements were not in line with the characters' personalities. It's like the clichés were thrown in just because the film had to have them.

It's not a fatal flaw, and you may not even notice unless like me you've watched dozens of epic love/war stories like this. Who knows, maybe the whole thing will be fresh and new for you. But I just wanted to temper your expectations a bit. Although Shinobi is a good movie, it's not quite awesome. Still worth your time, though.

Movies in this genre which I *do* consider awesome are the Yimou Zhang films "Hero" (2002) and "House of Flying Daggers" (2004). While "Shinobi" is a great effort, I think you should check out those others first to get a taste of cinematic perfection.