Five (Ninja) StarsAfter a
7-month (!!) wait, I finally got to watch SHINOBI. And man, WHAT A GREAT MOVIE. Totally surpassed my expectations...by a lot. A LOT A LOT. The cinematography turned out to be even more stunning than I thought it'd be. The action was great, the CG was very well-done, & most of all, the movie actually has a plot!! Not the best of storylines but it at least makes sense & flows rather smoothly. Having said that, the movie did have a few setbacks. The biggest one of all was that IT'S TOO DAMN SHORT. Yes, it might clock at 2 hours, which is about average. But for the amount of story telling that went on, it just wasn't enough. Many of the scenes, both action & dramatic ones included, felt rushed & underdeveloped. You hardly got to know the characters beyond the surface, even the love story between Gennosuke & Oboro wasn't as convincing just 'cause they weren't given enough screentime together (although I must say both actors did a great job out of what they had). Another thing was that the movie, for me personally, gave lil surprises. Minus the VERY end, I predicted pretty much everything that was going to happen. That includes
(spoiler alert!!) Oboro killing Gennosuke. I figured it out after watching the trailer a few times...if you look closely enough, in the desert scene near the end where they seem to be embracing each other, they really aren't. Oboro clearly has a look of shock on her face & her hands are hidden right between the two of them. And then in the next shot you see only her. DUH. What else could've happened?? =P
A few more comments before I end this post. First of all, Nakama Yukie is just too damn beautiful. She's so gorgeous in this movie it's almost unreal. =P And her character is so perfect you just can't not love her. Secondly, I love the ending. What a way to wrap things up, & it's probably the best ending you can have out of this otherwise quite tragic movie. The ending also saved the movie from being pointless...rather, it gave everything that's happened in the story a meaning, & it left the audience with a sense of hope. Finally, I of course need to mention "HEAVEN". What a great song to play during the ending credits. I'm loving the song all over again (not that I ever stopped loving it, hehe)...it's just got so much more to it now, having this epic story attached to it. The movie & the story are indeed a match made in heaven (pun intended, haha). TWO THUMBS WAY UP!!
