NINJA ASSASSIN

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Shockingly, "Ninja Assassin" is a legitimate martial arts fantasy movie.

Multiple storylines support shadowy noir settings for gallons of thick red-paint blood to splatter behind swords, fighting stars, and bullets.

Korean pop star Rain is believable as Raizo, a disciplined ninja abducted as a small boy by the underground Ozunu Clan (a.k.a. the Clan of the Black Sand).

There, Raizo was trained by the brutal Ozunu (Sh Kosugias) as an outsource assassin to kill for wealthy governments and private individuals.

Hotshot Berlin Europol agent Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris) connects the Ozunu Ninja to a political assassination and conspires with her associate Maslow (Ben Miles) to blow open the secret ninja organization that none of her military-prone peers believe exists.

For all of its cartoon-graphic body slicing, the film's centerpiece kill in a public bathroom between a young ninja and a British Kingpin (Stephen Marcus) is handled with sickening verite.

An especially exciting chase/fight scene between Raizo and a gang of ninjas, happens on a main road in heavy traffic.

Screenwriters Matthew Sand and J. Michael Straczynski might not have created a masterpiece, but they do effectively dodge cliches by going for some less obvious plotting.

James McTeigue ("V for Vendetta") directs this unpredictable acrobatic display of violent spectacle that carries its themes of loyalty and skill in a slick flatpack of fast-twitch precision.

Rated R. 99 mins.