"Ninja Assassin," directed by James McTeigue ... the audience is treated to lovingly photographed training sequences in which a glistening, shirtless Rain performs, for example, handstand push ...

the sobs-- of the training. At no point do the actions of Ninja Assassin at all begin to resemble reality, but the movie's commitment to the actual suffering involved in becoming such a warrior is ...

long flashbacks in which we see the training of a very special ninja named Raizo (the Korean actor Rain). "Suffering exists because weakness exists!" his Zen master/assassin trainer tells him.

In the world of “Ninja Assassin,” these liquids are all the same ... strange narrative cocktail that includes a heart-rending coming-of-age story, melodrama, training montages, romantic comedy ...