I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Disclaimer: If you are a viewer that mainly prefers art-house-type movies, then you might as well ignore this review. In addition, if you're not able to take an action cult classic martial arts film, ignore this review, as well. We'll both be better off.Ninja II: Shadow of a Tear (2013) is the best film of the two, It is a cult classic action martial arts flick, that I really enjoy and Love. I consider it as a classic. I am going to be honest I hate the original film Ninja which was a copycat of numerous films, that I counted. Watching this film on Blu-ray, I have highly enjoy it, this film seriously surprised me. I heard good things about this film, so I gave it a chance and it was a great flick. It is fast paced and highly entertained. It become one of my favorite martial arts film of 2013, along side with Skin Trade (2014) another flick that I love. Not the biggest fan of Scott Adkins, I got introduced in him by watching him in Undisputed II: Last Man Standing (2006) as Yuri Boyka which I have enjoyed that flick. I hated Ninja, but liked Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning and I remember him as a villain in The expendables II (2012). Still Ninja II: Shadow of a Tear is classic sequel that I love and the acting performances was good, but the fight choreographer was outstanding! The fights and the story for me were realistic. I Am considering alongside with Skin trade and of course Rambo IV (2008) Stallone's action flick that I love. Plot: Ninjitsu master Casey is back and out for revenge when his pregnant wife is murdered.Of all the Ninja films my favorite films are: Revenge of the Ninja (1983), (This one Ninja II: Shadow of a Tear), Ninja III: The Domination (1984), Ninja Assassin (2009) American Ninja 2: The Confrontation (1987) and American Ninja (1985). Those are my favorite Ninja films and this one is one of them. The fights are realistic and also the plot is original and it is realistic, I love that Casey Bowman (Scott Adkins) is one man an only hero who fights of a drug cartel, he has no sidekicks, he is alone. That is what I love in action heroes on screen, that they have no sidekicks. "ranks among the GREATEST ACTION MOVIES of our era" says Ed Travis, Cinapse and he is right it is great. About the cast: in this film is also Kane Kosugi son of a real Ninja martial arts master and sensei Sho Kosugi. He also started as Sho's son in Revenge of the Ninja and Pray for Death. Mika Hijii reprise her role as Namiko, Casey's love interest from the first film. She was the only cast to reprise her role from the first film. Shun Sugata did outstanding performance as Goro the drug kingpin in Burma. Tim Man was just awesome as Goro's (Shun Sugata) henchman. I know a lot of people wanted to see a lot of Ninjas in this film but there was only one (Scott Adkins), which I didn't care as long the action is entertaining and fun. The film isn't long or boring or lame, it is what is a great action martial arts flick a true classic! Isaac Florentine directed the film well and did a great job, better he did the first time. The fight scenes are excellent and for a revenge movie its really very good. Harks back to those classic 80's films. I liked it. Best scene: when he does some crack and takes out some bad guys. What more do you want! Full of martial art scenes giving you the same excitement when you saw the classic action movies such as the Matrix. A little difference: Chinese Kung Fu fights are more often unarmed. As for Japanese Ninja fight, I prefer sword fighting since there are so many different Ninja blades who kills! I love how Casey makes his own weapon after he takes down the drug dealers, I love how he cut Cobra's head a real snake to pieces. The opening scene gives us a brief history of the ninja and several scenes are based on reality. Rather than ninjas being shown as almost cartoon figures, we get to finally see them as the deadly warriors they really are. There are almost too many awesome fight scenes in this movie to pick a favorite but I think it has to be the fight sword fight between Casey and Goro by the end of the film, which the sword fight was set in flames, awesome! It's easily the best fight scene I've seen this year; no shaky cam, no CGI, just Scott Adkins showing us what he can really do. This is his best movie since the Undisputed series and I really hope we get a third entry.Overall: Ninja II: Shadow of a Tear get's a solid 10 by me which is clearly my favorite action martial arts film of the year!Ninja: Shadow of a Tear (also known as Ninja II) is an American martial arts action film directed by Isaac Florentine and starring Scott Adkins, Kane Kosugi, Mika Hijii and Shun Sugata. It is the sequel to Florentine's 2009 film Ninja. 10/10 Grade: Bad Ass Seal Of Approval Studio: Nu Image Swingin' Productions, Millennium Films Starring: Scott Adkins, Kane Kosugi, Mika Hijii, Shun Sugata, Vithaya Pansringarm, Jawed El Berni Director: Isaac Florentine Producers: Boaz Davidson, Frank DeMartini, Tom Waller Screenplay: Boaz Davidson (as David White) Rated: R Running Time: 1 Hr. 35 Mins. Budget: $2,600,000

The last time martial arts king Scott Adkins and action filmmaker extraordinaire Isaac Florentine worked together, their output was fantastic. UNDISPUTED III was one of the best fight flicks ever made and remains the high standard for other karate movies to strive for. In the three years since, Adkins has continued to make a name for himself both inside and out of movie theaters, while Florentine hit a bit of a low point with his Christian Slater vehicle, but fans have unanimously wondered what sort of film the two of them would deliver if paired together again. Would it top the previous UNDISPUTED? Well, now that ol' Scott and Isaac have finally produced their fifth collaboration, I can answer that question...somewhat sadly, in the negative. No, in my opinion, NINJA II is not the equal of "U3." It is, however, a vast improvement over its flawed prequel and is without a doubt the best pure martial arts movie of 2013.The story: upon the murder of his beloved Namiko (Mika Hiji), the returning Casey (Adkins) attempts to track down her killer - a quest which leads him into the dangerous urban sprawl and deadly jungles of Myanmar.I think this is the kind of movie Florentine was trying to make the first time around, when he made NINJA. Improvements on the production values and the general presentation of the ninja (no more ridiculously impossible physical feats) are superficial pluses to a generally more down-to-earth movie: the villains and rivalries feel more personal this time, and the shifting environmental settings make for a more interesting aesthetic presentation. With that said, the major flaws plaguing the movie are still production-related and creative ones. The automatic subtitles are slightly off, unnecessarily announcing "Myanmar (formerly Burma)" twice and in at least one situation unnecessarily announcing what a character is saying even though it's in English. Additionally, for a movie with the word "ninja" in its title, there is disappointingly little ninja-ing: Scott's the only real representative of the shadow warriors this time around, and doesn't suit up until the final 25 minutes. Subjectively, I also question the cultural sensitivity behind casting Indian actor Mukesh Bhatt: I love his performance, but laughing at him playing a goofy, subservient taxi driver in an American movie is kind of uncomfortable.The fight content so ample that it's a genuine surprise whenever Adkins' character *doesn't* resolve a situation by fighting. It's also, for the most part, top-notch. While I don't think it's the blow-for-blow equal of "U3," a friend of mine might comment that the filmmakers definitely took notes while watching The Raid: Redemption. There's so much going on here that I like. Virtually every fight features satisfyingly long shots, filled with lengthier technical exchanges than in a Shaw Bros. movie. While the one-against-many brawls are unanimously one-sided, none of the one-on-one encounters - comprising about half of the total fight scenes - are squash matches. There's a cool variety of fighters, too: Guinness record-setting kicker Ron Smoorenburg, karate-parkour star Jawel el Berni, RAGING PHOENIX-veteran Patrick Tang, and that second generation ninja himself, Kane Kosugi. Choreographer and on screen fighter Tim Man exercises his craft fully by accurately portraying kickboxing, defensive karate, kobudo- and kali-style weapons fighting, some grappling, and a smattering of Adkins' signature tricking. Viewers who particularly love Scott's backflips and flying moves may be disappointed that they're a bit toned down here, but personally, I can't get enough of the grounded hand-to-hand stuff, particularly the ten-star final match. Florentine's record for this kind of action remains unblemished.Dramatically, the movie is on the upper end of average for the DTV sphere. Adkins remains more than serviceable throughout, though his reaction to finding Mika Hiji's character dead was a bit weak. Kane Kosugi is solid, though he cycles between how strong his accent should be. The surprise standout performance comes from aging villain Shun Sugata, whose only fault is that he doesn't have more scenes to show off his theatrical talent (seriously, I think he only has about three). Writer David White, one of Florentine's regulars, doesn't deliver any particularly memorable dialog but deserves credit for a surprising twist at the end of the story. The movie ends on an uncharacteristically bitter note for Florentine, though I get the impression that this was done potentially so the protagonist may yet find closure in a potential third film.Should an additional installment of the franchise be on its way, I'd line up now to see it. In setting the standard so ridiculously high, both the star and the filmmaker may struggle to live up to their previous masterwork, but it's reassuring that Adkins and Florentine give the impression that they're all for making a great effort towards it. I can't think of any reason not to recommend buying this movie, so go for it.

Scott Adkins is back as the ninja warrior. It's still another cheesy movie, but I personally thought it was fun to watch. Even if the story didn't make much sense sometimes and some parts just seemed random. This is a low budget action movie, but it's still a good one. It's just cool to watch Scott Adkins do what he does best. And to watch a real martial artist in action that knows what he is doing. So yeah, it's has a passable story for a martial arts action movie and the fights are cool to watch and choreographed excellently. Even when it comes to the cinematography you know exactly what is going on, despite the quickness. Sure, there are some parts where the bad guys could have easily killed or apprehended the main character. But it's a movie and it was too distracting. Overall this is a cool martial arts ninja movie. Even if the ninja and stealth elements aren't really shown much.6/10

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!