Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!

Lancoor A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

fcabanski The fighting is top notch, and that's all that matters.The plot is just a framework to get from fight to fight. Such a plot doesn't have to be terrific. It just has to be good enough.The acting isn't bad. It's good enough to carry the movie from fight to fight. That's all that matters.There's hand to hand fighting, sword fighting, gun fighting, knife fighting, chain fighting, locket fighting, kick fighting, throw fighting, fighting, fighting and more fighting.I would have liked to see the jungle bad guy, Goro?, say, "I didn't have your wife killed." Guess what? Instead, he fights!

Anssi Vartiainen Ninja: Shadow of a Tear continues the story of Casey Bowman (Scott Adkins), an American raised in a Japanese dojo. Since the events of the first film, Casey has settled down to run the dojo after the demise of his master. But now a new threat rears its head as his pregnant is murderer while he's out for groceries. Fueled by rage, Casey travels to Thailand in order to avenge his wife.This film works as a sequel. It continues the storyline instead of just telling the exact same story with new villains, the old cast is back and the story stays faithful to the characters. Furthermore, Adkins is still very believably in his role, both physically and mentally. The tone of the film is perhaps even darker than in the original, and it show's in Adkins' acting. His brooding and occasional bouts of rage feel justified - not just merely cheap tricks to make him seem more antiheroish - especially when his true character shines through most of the time.The action and the fight scenes are still the best part of this franchise. Adkins is a skilled martial artist and the film makers have a good eye for shooting the fights in a way that makes them seem exciting and new. There's flair to them, but no so much that it seems unrealistic.Ninja: Shadow of a Tear is easily recommended for all those that enjoyed the first film and want to see more. It's also a good martial arts action film in general.

Leofwine_draca NINJA: SHADOW OF A TEAR is a follow-up to the surprisingly decent NINJA, an action flick starring Brit martial artist Scott Adkins and directed by direct-to-DVD helmer Isaac Florentine. This one has a different scope in that the chief character, Casey, having been banned from returning to the USA after the events of the first movie, trawls southeast Asia in a straightforward and undistinguished revenge storyline.Okay, so the plot is nothing new, it's the kind of simple, join-the-dots stuff you'd expect to be written by a high school student. The twists are obvious from the outset and there's a slight weariness and staleness to the whole concept. The acting isn't much to write home about, either; Adkins is passable, a briefly returning Mika Hijii is a joy while she's around, and Kane Kosugi is slowing becoming a younger version of his father, but nobody else makes an impact.It's good news, then, that this film really hits home when it comes to the action stakes. NINJA: SHADOW OF A TEAR packs a punch in terms of hard-hitting martial arts action, and it's filled to the brim with well-choreographed mayhem. The fights are incredibly hard-hitting and the actors are accomplished performers who are performing to the best of their ability. There's nothing not to love; this is outstanding stuff, and the best straight-to-video action flick of the year.

louisjbianco OK, well first of all, The Plot review doesn't do this movie justice. It sounds like it is in now way connected to the original storyline. Which it kind of isn't. The movie could have been longer and recapped the first movie better and had better character development. Having one student say he was present when Casey sparred with Matsuzaka big deal... The fact that the greatest Ninja clan was reduced to a Dojo instructor was also heart breaking much more than the death of his wife lol. Here's where the plot doesn't make sense and the hero is an idiot. In every martial arts or any movie now that you think of it, a successful bad guy/warlord/drug dealer/ mafia/kingpin whatever you want to call him; either wouldn't bother himself with small peanuts or has a vendetta against the whole rival and wants them all wiped off the earth and usually saves the boss for last. Just like Casey went after the boss last, so wouldn't the kingpin have killed tried to wipe Casey's wives clan out first and save her for last? wouldn't there been more bodies instead of her mysterious death? why would a kingpin in a different country send someone to kill his wife out of nowhere and having looked at the house would have seen signs of a husband eg: mens shoes, wedding picture etc. why would you leave a husband alive. Now fast forward to the rea bad guy. He said the kingpin taught all his men to kill with the barbed wire whip. after killing what 30 of them and none having a whip at all wouldn't something register in your brain as fishy? not even the number one henchman had one! only the kingpin himself! which also brings the point where did your buddy get one from to stage the murders? oh he's a ninja turned dojo owner too... go figure! OK now to the racist comment people here and on amazon. point one: if everyone in the movie didn't know martial arts then it would be a shitty movie and he would just wipe their asses off the face of the earth. that's not racistly assuming all Asians know martial arts, that's making the movie exciting vs boring. point two: No one said all Asians are bad. He is looking for a drug-lord, so obviously he is looking in a bad part of town where crime and assholes are, so its safe to assume there are thugs, drug dealers, mafia and such. point 3: to the guy who said a white guy banging Asians and making them his bitch. Obviously you didn't see the first movie. He was the number one student of the master and fought against the other number one student and he married the masters daughter. when the master died he became the new master and keeper of the secrets. which he abandoned in this movie... for some horrible reason. a better plot would have been the real badguy took over the clan because he and his wife ran away to have a family, the drug-lord was killing off the members clan in search of them and then he begs for their return and when they do return he assassinates the wife and a few more clansman and blames it on the kingpin. I should write these screenplays! in fact any producers out there I have quite a few awesome plot ideas of my own! All in all the fight scenes were amazing! I would love to see a behind the scenes video to see how much wire work was involved and how much was real! Kane Kosugi and Scott Atkins were both impressive! I am glad to see martial arts movies making a return outside of Hong Kong!