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Advance word>I haven’t yet seen the film, but from this trailer I can see why many had a problem with the film’s CG-heavy action and frenetic shooting style. It’s a real shame too—how hard is it to craft a simple and effective ninja action film? You just need to have decent choreography and the ability to shoot in a way that lets us see it. There’s really not much else required, given that the genre isn’t famous for high drama or superb storylines.

View the trailer below courtesy of IGN:

At this point I wish that the Wachowski brothers had enlisted someone like Ryuhei Kitamura to take on the film. His work on Versus and Azumi is more than enough to qualify him for a film like Ninja Assassin—and honestly it’s something he could probably tackle with little effort. I also won’t deny that it would be a total geek dream of mine to see Kitamura and the Wachowskis work together.

Check out the trailer for Azumi below:

It’s not a perfect film, by any means. But with a small budget and a cast of untrained teenage actors, Kitamura managed to craft something that could hold up to many other treasured ninja films. He showed similar inventiveness with Versus, where he somehow managed to fit in zombies, samurai, yakuza, and demons with great choreography in a single low-budget film.