Ninja (2009) and Ninja 2 (2013)

A silent warrior. A deadly past. A lethal mission.

Scott Adkins movies quite entertaining and his Ninja movies are no exception.

The first movie, Ninja, has basic premise: Number one student at ninja dojo broke the rule is disgraced and returns to get revenge and to steal ancient ninja relics. This is when number two guy and lone white guy will use his ninja skills to avenge his dojo and slain master.

The second movie, Ninja: Shadow of a Tear movie is a basic one-man revenge movie. Scott Adkins is Casey. With no last name mentioned in this movie, he’s searching Myanmar for the evil drug lord that murdered his wife. I think this movie is actually better than the first. But in both movies what I really liked was Adkins strong martial arts. A lot of the fancy, spin moves, and wire-fu from other movies gets old, so when Adkins is using strong Taekwando and Karate kicks it’s a refreshing change. While the moves don’t look very ninjitsu-like they do make for some great fight scenes.

Some of the early dialog and romantic scenes with Casey’s wife are a bit stilted, but no one should care. Those scenes are short and when they’re over, the action starts and doesn’t stop until the credits roll.

Bottom line: These are simple, fun movies with great martial arts action.

Watch: Yes.

Re-watch: A strong possibility.