Ninja Assassin

Ninja Assassin is exactly what the title promises: ninjas assassinating people in the most spectacularly gory fashion imaginable. Korean pop star Rain plays Raizo, a rogue ninja seeking revenge against the clan that raised him, and the Wachowski-produced film delivers wall-to-wall combat with a level of bloodshed that borders on parody. The opening scene — a roomful of Yakuza members dismembered by an invisible ninja in pitch darkness — sets the tone perfectly. The fight choreography is legitimately excellent (Rain trained for six months and achieved an authentic martial artist’s physique), even if the CGI blood effects have aged poorly. It is the purest modern ninja film ever made.