ILS Movie Review: Ninja II: Shadow of a Tear

Just because I never talk about ninjas doesn't mean I'm not thinking about climbing up a wall to throw a star into some asshole's forehead. Being a ninja as depicted in '80s movies like Revenge of the Ninja and Pray for Death would be the coolest thing possible. I added Ninja II to my Netflix queue when I saw it had an actor with the last name Kosugi.

Sho Kosugi needs no introduction. This movie has Kane Kosugi. Must be his son.*

Here's a trailer.

Maybe this doesn't look so great to you. Maybe you can't imagine watching something without Benedict Cumberbatch or a Peter Gabriel song. Maybe your ideal leading man is Michael Cera. But me, well, I'm a guy who likes movies.

And I like Ninja II.

I watched my first ninja movie when I was around 8 years old. If at 8 years old someone had given me a film crew and some karate-ically but not dramatically talented people this is the movie I would have made.

But I was thinking. If there were ninjas today, they would probably use guns with silencers. The guy in this movie won't even touch guns. When he kills a squad of thugs in the Burmese jungle he leaves behind their AK-47s. But he takes their grenades. He'll blow shit up, but shooting people is out of the question? Ninjas would totally use guns.

This movie: You already know if you'll like or not.

*I'm committed to doing zero research.