Casey Bowman (Adkins) is the lone white student at a dojo in Japan, among a class studying the ancient art of Ninjitsu. His father was stationed in Okinawa as a G.I., and this is the only culture he knows. When a fellow student, Masazuka (Ihara), attacks Casey in anger during a sparring exercise, he is banned from the school by the sensei. Naturally, that drives him to become an evil ninja who uses hi-tech weaponry and does the bidding of an evil cult in America. Meanwhile, the sensei entrusts Casey and fellow student/love interest Namiko (Hijii) to protect something called the Yoroi Bitsu, the historical ninja outfit and weaponry. They travel to New York City and proceed to fight waves of baddies to protect their honor and the Yoroi Bitsu. Things get complicated after Casey and Namiko are arrested by NYC cop Det. Traxler (Jensen), but eventually the inevitable happens: the final showdown between Casey and Masazuka. Who will be the ultimate NINJA? Entertainment and good times abound with this throwback to the 80's Ninja Boom. Fan favorite director Florentine is at the top of his game as he delivers action-packed fights and well-choreographed action (along with his trademark "whooshing" sound effects), while frequent collaborator in front of the camera and fellow fan favorite Scott Adkins is also in fine form. Adkins is always enjoyable to watch, and when he's put in roles like this, he can really shine. 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. Ninja - the movie - deserves credit for actually trying to imbue the plot with history and true ninja tradition. There's a (comically fast) scroll at the beginning informing us of the history of Ninjitsu, and a few re-enactments as well. 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. And there's plenty of real Martial Arts and stunts as well. So, it's all good. We'll let the CGI stuff go in this instance.Plus, Masazuka is the first Cyber Ninja we've seen since…well, Cyber Ninja (1988). He's also a Cyber Ninja with a machine gun. This is awesome. We haven't seen a ninja with a machine gun since Ninja III:The Domination (1984), so, it was more than welcome. We also liked the wackier elements of the plot, such as the Temple cult. What made it great is that it wasn't needed at all, but it was totally welcome. A final observation: in the on screen title at the beginning of the movie, in the word NINJA, the "A" is a throwing star. We need more clever, cool details like this in movies. Though due to their censorship and hatred of throwing stars, it's likely that in the UK this movie is called NINJ. We're imagining it crudely crossed out with a crayon.In the final analysis, this particular Florentine/Adkins collaboration has cranked out another winner and kept DTV from going into the doldrums for the time being. Not everyone could have pulled from the Ninja Boom well and done it so successfully, so, they deserve credit. It's a fun and enjoyable watch, and we recommend it.

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.

this movie has two thing that every ninja movie should have,a vengeance plot and a meeting of the old ways of the ninja and the modern way of the gang/cult.first off you see the training dojo and you don't know if it's the 15th century or the 21st.our hero,casey,who has been in the dojo from youth is in a minor seeming feud with masasuke,a rival student in the dojo,when a training session becomes near fatal masasuke is banished and goes into business as an assassin,meanwhile casey and namiko,the sensei's daughter go to America to guard an ancient ninja artefact,the yoroi bitsu,a chest of weapons and gear used by the ninja ancestors who trained in the dojo.when masasuke kills sensei casey and namiko are targeted,this is where the movie changes,masasuke is the modern ninja,with guns, an extendable katana and a major grudge he uses a cult connection to find and capture casey.when all else fails casey does what he has to do,he opens the chest.as masasuke is modern and casey is a classic ninja,it is a major battle of the ages,and a brilliant fight all around,this movie is sometimes compared to ninja assassin,but the two couldn't be any more different

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. In fact it's sort of like watching a slightly more violent version of Power Rangers. The movie has some similarities of "Ninja Assassin", the ninja clan is sort of similar, so is the rivalry and the love interest aspect of it. But unlike "Ninja Assassin" where the ninja that goes rogue is the hero, in this one the ninja that goes rogue is the main villain and the ninja clan are the good guys. The beginning scene made this movie seem like it has potential, but as soon as it bring some cult and cult leader in the whole movie went to trash. Almost nothing about this movie made any sense and there is just way too many noticeable plot holes. 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. But in this one the fighting choreography is just...eh. This isn't a terrible ninja movie, but there is a lot of flaws and the script is just laughable at times. None of the characters are even remotely interesting and didn't even seem like ninjas but cheap imitations of them. They don't even really fight like ninjas either, so for a ninja movie this is barely passable.4.3/10