Ninja II: Shadow Of A Tear (2013) - A Review

 

Ninja II movie poster

 

Ninja II: Shadow Of A Tear is an American martial arts movie released in 2013 and is the direct sequel to the 2009 Ninja movie. This film stars Scott Adkins, Mika Hijii, Kane Kosugi, Shun Sugata, and Tim Man. Isaac Florentine returns as director, and Tim Man did fight choreography.

Casey Bowman (played by Adkins) and Namiko (played by Hijii) are now married and living a nice married life. Suddenly, something tragic happens, and Casey's life is turned upside down. Nakabara (played by Kosugi) offers Casey a place to train in Thailand. From there, Casey falls into a revenge-filled rabbit hole. Casey seeks vengeance, in the most violent way possible!

Ninja II is a much darker and grittier film compared to the first one! Casey Bowman is pretty much obsessed with revenge throughout the movie. Everyone that gets in his way gets hurt badly, or worse. When Nakabara tries to help him out with some training exercises/rituals, Casey loses focus and either hurts his friends or hurts himself. He unleashes his rage and pain in spectacular fashion, though.

It is cool that Kane Kosugi is in this movie. Kane's father, Sho Kosugi, is famous for playing ninjas in the 1980s Ninja movie boom. Kane Kosugi starred with his father in some of those movies as a child. Kane is a very accomplished martial artist, and he really gets to show what he's got in this movie!

This movie is filled with fight scenes! Tim Man did an excellent job with the fight choreography. We see lots of cool moves from Scott Adkins, Kane Kosugi, and Tim Man himself. My favorite fight scenes in this are the bar fight, the fight against Goro's (played by Shun Sugata) right hand man, Myat (played by Tim Man himself), and of course, the final fight scene. They go all out in that final fight. Incredible stuff! Isaac Florentine knows how to present a fight scene as well!

If you love martial arts movies, especially martial arts movies that have that 1980s Hong Kong style of choreography, then you will enjoy this movie. I think this is one of Scott Adkins' all time best movies. If you want to see a hero wreak vengeance with absolutely no mercy, check this movie out! 

Cover of the Blu-Ray that I watched for this review.

Back cover of the Blu-Ray case. Yes I own it. Jealous?

The Blu-Ray disc. You can watch this movie for free on Tubi and Pluto TV On Demand!

Reviewed by David Williams