MOVIE REVIEW: Ninja: Shadow of a Tear, AKA Ninja II (2013)
“The point of revenge is not in the completion but in the process.”
-Park Chan-wook, South Korean filmmaker, Oldboy [2003]
In the search for revenge (and sometimes closure) we often fail to notice the details of how things came to pass. So grievously injured by the offense or crime, we often ignore the facts and become the very monsters we move against. Only when we sit back and take stock can we truly realize how it all happened. Humanity is rife with stories like these and many of them have become tragedies both real and imagined. Not so with today’s mediocre movie, the sequel to 2009’s Ninja called Shadow of a Tear.
Martial artist Scott Adkins (Close Range [2015], John Wick: Chapter 4 [2023]) returns as Casey the White ninja of the Koga clan. Now married to Namiko (Mika Hijii, GARO: Under the Moonbow [2019], Alien vs. Ninja [2010]) and soon to be a father, everything is turning out perfect for him and the continuation of the Koga clan. The person whose life involves the violent aspects of ninjitsu is rarely undisturbed, as Namiko is murdered in their home with only a barbed-wire shaped wound around her neck as a clue. A fellow Koga member, Nakabara (Kane Kosugi, Revenge of the Ninja [1983], “Ninja Sentai Kakuranger” [TV-TV Asahi]), is there to try and redirect Casey’s anger in a positive way — he offers to host Casey at his dojo compound in Thailand so he can calm his emotions— but Casey turns him down. That changes after Casey does some hard investigating, and ultimately murders a couple of thugs who tried to mug him. He flees to Thailand for Nakabara’s hospitality, but another murder with similar barbed-wire pattern wounds about the neck prompt Casey to start asking more questions. It’s at that time Nakabara reveals who might be using the weapon: Goro the drug lord (played by Shun Sugata, “Tokyo Vice” [TV-HBO Max], Tokyo Gore Police [2008], “Zatoichi vs Predator” [2017 fan film]).
Goro is closely related to a collection of 14 surviving Imperial Japanese soldiers that were marched into the Burmese jungle in a regiment of 2500 to become jungle ninja during the Second World War. During an internal struggle between three of the surviving ninja, Goro’s older brother died. Swearing revenge, Goro took up his brother’s barbed-wire kusari-gama as his signature weapon and became a drug lord kingpin ruling from the Burmese jungle. Assuming that the weapon is unique (HINT HINT), Casey gears up and fights his way across Southeast Asia to avenge his wife.
As I watched this movie, something was nagging at me: every time Casey kills someone, he runs away to another country instead of hiding. Realism began to creep in, as Casey would have a lot of problems moving between the 3 countries (Japan, Thailand, and Myanmar/Burma) due to airline security. Casey might not be the top suspect in murdering a couple of street thugs known to Japanese security agencies, but he might trigger an interest after these 2 guys were killed between some White guy’s wife dying and his sudden trip to Thailand. It says a lot about the movie where this inconsistency was the sole immersion-breaking item, because the remainder was still palatable.
Barring the White male rage sequences where he assaults the locals because he is emotionally disturbed, the movie is wonderfully staged and choreographed: from the neon-soaked urban streets of Japan to the woody greens of Southeast Asia, you feel like you’re actually there watching Scott Adkins do his worst. Using Namiko as a disposable woman to facilitate the revenge plot seems to have been pulled straight from a 1980s action film (namely Rambo: First Blood Part II [1985], Missing in Action [1984], and The Octagon [1980]), to the chagrin of anyone expecting gender parity in screen time or originality in a sequel about a White ninja master. There is a last-minute turn that made paying attention worthwhile so I urge you, dear reader: don’t fall asleep to this!
CHOICE CUTS:
- The wooden gravestone markers are still standing upright with fine marks scratched in them after 70 years of humid jungle air.
- PRICELESS QUOTES: “I want Black Thunder Chocolate” — Namiko, after her pregnancy cravings woke Casey up in the middle of the night.
- Shoutout to Mukesh Bhatt (Bloody Daddy [2023], Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag [2007]) as Mike the Thai cab driver, stuntman Jawed el-Berni (Carry On [2024], Hitman: Agent 47 [2015]) as Lucas, and the amazing martial artist Tim Man (Ong Bak 2: the Beginning [2008], Street Fighter [1994]) as Myat for their contribution — some of the only bright spots!
- PRICELESS QUOTES: “Don’t you do it!” — me when I thought Casey was going to kiss his dead wife.
- Oddly enough Casey did not scream a big NOOOOOOOO when he held his dead wife, despite the opportunity being right there; probably because his Japanese neighbors would complain.
- Real men don’t cry when their wives die, as Casey’s eyes barely squeeze out…a shadow of a tear.
