Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

KSB Wow what a great movie...Yesterday only I saw this movie and I could not resist writing this review... A beautiful love story of two ninjas. The story is about two ninja group who lived in 1614. After more than four hundred years of war between two warriors Manjidani Koga and Tsubagakure Iga who called Shinobi's. Both are very well trained warriors. Iga warriors are live hidden in forest and Koga warriors in hills and mountains. They are under the Kingdom of Lord of Lords. The Lord (Hattori Hanzou) wants to keep the peace in his kingdom. So as his adviser told to destroy their best warriors. If they best warriors are dead means there will be a peace forever. The Lord ordered to Both Iga and Koga leaders to bring their best warriors for war. But between all these incidents, Oboro (Iga) and Gennosuke (Koga) are made their love. Before the day of leaving both Iga and Koga leaders were fought and met their destiny. So, Oboro and Gennosuke have to lead them to Lords place. But Gennosuke did not want to fight with Iga. So he wants to go to the Lord's place and tell him what is the purpose of this fighting? We don't want to fight. He sent message to IGA also. But their warriors want to fight with Iga. From both Iga and Koga having five warriors, they are also well trained Shinobi's. But Gennosuke ordered to go with him to Lord's place, on their way they fight each other. At last what happened? Whether they reach Lord's place? Please see the movie. Yukie Nakama as Oboro and Jô Odagiri as Gennosuke they did their job wonderful. I love the look of Yukie's in climax also love scenes. Other than that Tomoka Kurotani as Kagerou she is also very beautiful and having killer looks :-)... Action sequences are terrific. Especially the forest fights. Finally 9/10.

brandnew02 Alright, I really had to dig deep to watch this movie till the end. Horrible, just like too many other ninja "movies". Why can't they make a genuine ninja representation, instead of all this flying around, magical non-sense, stark colors and all-the-time-perfectly-combed modern hairstyles that only make it more ridiculous? Would it be so hard to make a ninja movie along the lines of, say, Twilight Samurai? Actually, how cool would it be to display the real ninja's, in a realistic setting, with real world situations and historical references that are indeed founded? REALISM, that's what the ninja deserve. They were real men, not flying werewolves. Or octopus-hand freaks. They were not even mere mindless assassins or as they mention in this "movie": weapons that need to serve someone. It's quite the opposite. If you have a bit of taste and knowledge and like to watch inspiring films, then my suggestion is to avoid this movie like the plague. What a waste of time, and effort, both from the participants in this production, and for the beholders of yet another improbable abomination. ENOUGH!

sAfuRos I don't know if the people reviewing this film are suckers for really corny movies with poor action combined with a sort of uh, seriously? plot, but i certainly am not.That description, i admit, makes my 5 rating seem high. But let me qualify - i expected this to be a martial arts movie with a romance plot, and my expectations in such a genre are not high in the sense that i was in the mood for a movie of the sort. If i had wanted to see a movie and popped this in, i might have thought worse of it, but that was not the case.The plot itself is rather corny but that's acceptable, of course, and i don't really think that corny alone hampers a movie's merit. What gets me about this flick is that the corniness is not topped off in typical fashion, but rather this sort of strange, disturbingly illogical finale (in the sense that it is really just a bad, dissatisfying ending if you think about it, but is presented as a good ending). Also, it reeks of Hero but in a crappy way.The other part of the movie that lacks is the very poor special effects. I believe this is a problem with Japanese cinema in general - they seem to be, often, behind American, European, Chinese, and Korean cinematography - but this is not a problem so long as the movie does not overstretch itself. If the visual effects team for the movie is not the best, than the movie should not attempt to have effects it cannot show - but Shinobi does. The intro sequence is a prime example of this, with the ninja's swinging and moving in absolutely unrealistic fashion that is uncomfortable. It's not like the gravity-defying wushu films - that type of movement is smooth and it works - it's more of the "this looks so fake it's embarrassing" kind.Some of the action is pretty cool, and indeed in concept i believe it was quite interesting - however, the presentation is bad, bad, bad, and does not fit the movie; it's as if 1970's wushu, costume design (i forgot to mention, the outfits of the characters are also out of place for the most part) and special effects meets modern cameras and cinematography - an uncomfortable mix.Ultimately i think that the movie is simply over-hyped. I suppose it is a relatively rare movie and many of the viewers had a different expectation than i did, but it's not the movie you'll want to pop in if you have anything else to watch.

Death_to_Crackers Not to be confused with Sega's 80s hit video game series, Shinobi, was a sorely missed opportunity in my view. Having had high hopes for this period novel based screen adaptation, my expectations were only to be shattered. Without regurgitating the synopsis, Shinobi plays out like scenes from a stage bound theater play. With almost still set 'pieces' and 1 line dialogues drawing from Shakespearean tragedies, namely Romeo and Juliet. "Star cross lovers", "We are doomed by fate", abound. With a visual dictation of a video game, its not surprising some would think Joe Mushashi might have a cameo with his trusty wolf.Characters are given next to no background, nor are emotions explored beyond surface values and motivations. Audiences aren't given enough time to be convinced of the contrived romance between Oboro and Gennosuke, nor involved enough to care about the supporting cast. The narrative takes its time and draws on scenes longer than needed, with so much filler making the plot paper thin. Some scenes even invite a laugh when it's supposed to invoke sympathy, which is never good on a director's vision. Action scenes and CGI are passable at best and no doubt some Hong Kong choreography was a source of inspiration for this department. Score wise the music was suitable, and as usual in Japanese films the main theme (*Heaven, Ayumi Hamasaki) rolling after the credits never do appear in the film itself. Why is a soundtrack not in the actual movie is really perplexing. The numerous cons aside, the film does have its highlights. The cinematography is nothing short of beautiful, with shots of mountainous landscapes, gorgeous winter covered lakes and autumn leaves. The attires and costumes were also commendable, with contrast colors for both ninja clans. Lead actress, Yukie Nakama (Trick, G@me) exudes charisma and ethereal beauty, while Joe Odagiri holds his own. Besides Yukie Nakama, further eye-candy, the inclusion of cute Erika Sawajiri (1 Litre of Tears, Ghost Train) is worth a mention. But these pros alone can't overshadow the evident flaws surrounding thefilm. Had the narrative, script been given more attention, this film would have won similar critical praise as the comparable House of Flying Daggers. While both have shallow characterization, great cinematography, Shinobi differs in that it can't decide which market audiences its aiming at. With the inappropriate CGI in a period piece, and what could have been a thoughtful artistic film without the FX flair in a tragic romance drama. The main theme of Giri-Ninjo, duty over personal emotions is at least a good standing point in the film. Its worth a look, but don't expect a Kurosawa or even a Last Samurai.