Ninja: Shadow of a Tear (2013)

One of the best ninja movie. Good story. Full of action if you are looking for action.

Fmovies: Ninja: Shadow of a Tear continues the story of Casey Bowman (Scott Adkins), an American raised in a Japanese dojo. Since the events of the first film, Casey has settled down to run the dojo after the demise of his master. But now a new threat rears its head as his pregnant is murderer while he's out for groceries. Fueled by rage, Casey travels to Thailand in order to avenge his wife.

This film works as a sequel. It continues the storyline instead of just telling the exact same story with new villains, the old cast is back and the story stays faithful to the characters. Furthermore, Adkins is still very believably in his role, both physically and mentally. The tone of the film is perhaps even darker than in the original, and it show's in Adkins' acting. His brooding and occasional bouts of rage feel justified - not just merely cheap tricks to make him seem more antiheroish - especially when his true character shines through most of the time.

The action and the fight scenes are still the best part of this franchise. Adkins is a skilled martial artist and the film makers have a good eye for shooting the fights in a way that makes them seem exciting and new. There's flair to them, but no so much that it seems unrealistic.

Ninja: Shadow of a Tear is easily recommended for all those that enjoyed the first film and want to see more. It's also a good martial arts action film in general.

Realistic fighting and amazing moves... Great movie

Ninja: Shadow of a Tear fmovies. First the good. There's plenty of action in the film and the fight scenes are pretty well choreographed. Not on par with anything from let's say "Drunken Master, or Once Upon a Time In China", but still much better a similar movie 'American Ninja'. The story is believable and I wasn't bothered by any potholes. I saw another person post something about the main character being white as absurd. Well this is fictional movie so...

Now the bad. My main issue with the movie is that I was expecting something more Ninja-esque. The title still makes sense once the movie is finished, but 15% of the film gives us a true ninja feeling, and the rest is more of a vigilante film.

Verdict. A good movie if you love martial art films. If you expect something similar to a recent big budget film like 'Ninja Assassins' this is a far cry from that, but check it out for yourself.

Plot: Ninjitsu master Casey is back and out for revenge when his pregnant wife is murdered.

This is easily my favorite Scott Adkins film to date. This has the best story because it's straight forwarded and simple which is what I like about the action films from back in the day and this brings that back. I've always thought he had charisma whenever he was on screen, He is very likable, and you feel for him in this film which is what you should do for your main character.

The action in this film is some of the best I've seen in years, rivaling the John Wick films even. Director Isaac Florentine knows how to shoot action as demonstrated in his other films, if only Hollywood would actually give this guy a good budget and have some of his films in theaters unlike some directors who don't deserve it.

This is a really good throwback to old school action films that action fans should watch and give it a chance, you won't regret it.

The last time martial arts king Scott Adkins and action filmmaker extraordinaire Isaac Florentine worked together, their output was fantastic. UNDISPUTED III was one of the best fight flicks ever made and remains the high standard for other karate movies to strive for. In the three years since, Adkins has continued to make a name for himself both inside and out of movie theaters, while Florentine hit a bit of a low point with his Christian Slater vehicle, but fans have unanimously wondered what sort of film the two of them would deliver if paired together again. Would it top the previous UNDISPUTED? Well, now that ol' Scott and Isaac have finally produced their fifth collaboration, I can answer that question...somewhat sadly, in the negative. No, in my opinion, NINJA II is not the equal of "U3." It is, however, a vast improvement over its flawed prequel and is without a doubt the best pure martial arts movie of 2013.

The story: upon the murder of his beloved Namiko (Mika Hiji), the returning Casey (Adkins) attempts to track down her killer - a quest which leads him into the dangerous urban sprawl and deadly jungles of Myanmar.

I think this is the kind of movie Florentine was trying to make the first time around, when he made NINJA. Improvements on the production values and the general presentation of the ninja (no more ridiculously impossible physical feats) are superficial pluses to a generally more down-to-earth movie: the villains and rivalries feel more personal this time, and the shifting environmental settings make for a more interesting aesthetic presentation. With that said, the major flaws plaguing the movie are still production-related and creative ones. The automatic subtitles are slightly off, unnecessarily announcing "Myanmar (formerly Burma)" twice and in at least one situation unnecessarily announcing what a character is saying even though it's in English. Additionally, for a movie with the word "ninja" in its title, there is disappointingly little ninja-ing: Scott's the only real representative of the shadow warriors this time around, and doesn't suit up until the final 25 minutes. Subjectively, I also question the cultural sensitivity behind casting Indian actor Mukesh Bhatt: I love his performance, but laughing at him playing a goofy, subservient taxi driver in an American movie is kind of uncomfortable.

The fight content so ample that it's a genuine surprise whenever Adkins' character *doesn't* resolve a situation by fighting. It's also, for the most part, top-notch. While I don't think it's the blow-for-blow equal of "U3," a friend of mine might comment that the filmmakers definitely took notes while watching The Raid: Redemption. There's so much going on here that I like. Virtually every fight features satisfyingly long shots, filled with lengthier technical exchanges than in a Shaw Bros. movie. While the one-against-many brawls are unanimously one-sided, none of the one-on-one encounters - comprising about half of the total fight scenes - are squash matches. There's a cool variety of fighters, too: Guinness record-setting kicker Ron Smoorenburg, karate-parkour star Jawel el Berni, RAGING PHOENIX-veteran Patrick Tang, and that second generation ninja himself, Kane Kosugi. Choreographer and on screen fighter Tim Man exercises his craft fully by accurately portraying kickboxing, defensive karate, kobudo- and kali-style weapons fighting, some grappling, and a smattering of Adkins' signature tricking.