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The “Ninja Assassin” (Korean pop star Rain) dispenses his brand of video-game violence in a blood-soaked action movie. |
Are the parents sitting on the MPAA’s ratings board out of their minds?
This is not a rhetorical question, because the answer is “Yes, they are” if they honestly believe that the stab ’em, rip ’em, slice ’em, dice ’em, martial arts exploitation action film “Ninja Assassin” doesn’t qualify as an adults-only movie.
In the opening sequence of James McTeigue’s high-velocity, gleefully gory experience, a ninja assassin wipes out a room full of scoffing ruffians. Heads explode in crimson showers. Body parts fall to the floor. It takes one man a few seconds before he realizes he’s been neatly sliced in half, the long way. One half of him can only watch in horror as his other half slides to the floor.
“Ninja Assassin” isn’t just one constant blood geyser. It’s the Old Faithful of blood geysers.
That “Ninja Assassin” would merit a mere R rating shows just how the MPAA’s Ratings Board has abandoned its responsibility to properly advise and warn American parents about the increasingly frank and explicit nature of today’s movies.
There’s nothing wrong with the violence per se in the spectacularly crimson “Ninja Assassin,” which closely approximates the kinetic, pseudo-realism of an ultraviolent video game. (Read more…)