I'm given to understand that this movie is a revised rendition of a longer saga - abridged, condensed, and reedited, with rewrites and reshoots on top, and shamelessly lifting music from other movies. (Oh yes, I definitely heard even James Horner's score from 'Krull' in there.) I don't know how much of the final product is a reflection of these alterations, and how much of it might also be observed in the longer, more complete iteration. What I do know is that the viewing experience is extremely rough, and emphatically tries one's patience. More than that, it's pretty much downright unwatchable. Even as a cinephile who commits to anything they watch, for better and for worse, it's a pure act of masochism to sit through this. I hope for the sake of those involved that the more episodic version is better, because as we see it, 'Mafia vs ninja' is terribly made; not only is it not remotely entertaining, but it's actively aggravating.
The scene writing and dialogue are bizarrely blunt, forthright, and tactless, and the direction is no better. The plot development is mind-blowing in its absolute childish simplicity and lack of sophistication or nuance; at the same time, the plot itself is all but entirely incohesive, incoherent, and nonsensical, and nearly impossible to track as the connective threads between scenes, beats, or basic ideas are sometimes wholly undetectable by modern science. Curt editing serves the picture at large very poorly, and even specifically undercuts the possible value of too much of any stunts and fight choreography; the cinematography is often altogether sloppy. The audio during fight scenes is so over the top and exaggerated that it comes across much like an unknowing American preteen child jokingly imitating sound effects they heard someone else mimicking. Maybe the nature of that audio can be chalked up to astoundingly awful dubbing, for indeed, the English version of this rubbish is further plagued with rotten voice acting. It's not just about the dubbing, though, for with every other element being so putrescent, the actors themselves do not come off well - only where the fight scenes are concerned, maybe, and then the questionable cinematography and editing rob the actors even of that possible saving grace. Obliquely accentuating the point, in the last twenty or minutes or so the fight scenes embrace outright fantasy that would be right at home in anime; maybe I could have appreciated it here, too, if the shift weren't so abrupt from everything else the flick had been doing previously.
Even the sound editing is egregious, and the music is used poorly; what greets our ears tends more than not to be a nearly haphazard, cacophonous conglomeration of grating noise, some of which may resemble words. Like the violence in the last act, the costume design is basically just altogether cartoonish, and rarely looks good on a basic level; in fairness, this also describes how the characters are written (in and of themselves, and in each scene), and how they are portrayed by the cast. To the same point, for as ineptly as this is written and put together, I genuinely don't know who all the characters were supposed to be, nor where or how they come and go. One might reasonably wonder if 'Mafia vs ninja' weren't actually a giant unfunny joke, because surely no one could accidentally create something so vacuous, empty-headed, insipid, incompetent, gawky, and floundering as this is. From the moment it begins the feature is rancid, and it only ever gets worse - truly, there is never any improvement, and these ninety minutes are an infinite downward spiral of horrible, mindless, senseless "film-making" and "storytelling." I recognize that there really were fair ideas here in the screenplay, and that there really was hard work and skill poured into the action sequences. Unfortunately, the title as it exists squanders every conceivable advantage or spark of worth, and we as viewers are left with nothing but the self-hatred that results from realizing we chose to watch.
However it is you came across this, whatever you think you might get from it, you should not watch it. On the contrary, you should avoid it. You should complain to the folks who operate the places where you found it, and with any luck you can help to scrub this film from existence. You should actively help to ensure that no one else ever makes the same mistake of watching. 'Mafia vs ninja' is appalling, flagrantly amateurish trash, and since it treats its own stunts and action so poorly even these can't work to redeem it. If those making this had approached it with the faintest modicum of earnest care, and consistency, then it might have succeeded, but apparently that was just asking too much. I've seen the bottom of the cinematic barrel, more than once, and I assure with with total sincerity that the bottom of the barrel is where this loathsome, vexing sludge belongs.
The scene writing and dialogue are bizarrely blunt, forthright, and tactless, and the direction is no better. The plot development is mind-blowing in its absolute childish simplicity and lack of sophistication or nuance; at the same time, the plot itself is all but entirely incohesive, incoherent, and nonsensical, and nearly impossible to track as the connective threads between scenes, beats, or basic ideas are sometimes wholly undetectable by modern science. Curt editing serves the picture at large very poorly, and even specifically undercuts the possible value of too much of any stunts and fight choreography; the cinematography is often altogether sloppy. The audio during fight scenes is so over the top and exaggerated that it comes across much like an unknowing American preteen child jokingly imitating sound effects they heard someone else mimicking. Maybe the nature of that audio can be chalked up to astoundingly awful dubbing, for indeed, the English version of this rubbish is further plagued with rotten voice acting. It's not just about the dubbing, though, for with every other element being so putrescent, the actors themselves do not come off well - only where the fight scenes are concerned, maybe, and then the questionable cinematography and editing rob the actors even of that possible saving grace. Obliquely accentuating the point, in the last twenty or minutes or so the fight scenes embrace outright fantasy that would be right at home in anime; maybe I could have appreciated it here, too, if the shift weren't so abrupt from everything else the flick had been doing previously.
Even the sound editing is egregious, and the music is used poorly; what greets our ears tends more than not to be a nearly haphazard, cacophonous conglomeration of grating noise, some of which may resemble words. Like the violence in the last act, the costume design is basically just altogether cartoonish, and rarely looks good on a basic level; in fairness, this also describes how the characters are written (in and of themselves, and in each scene), and how they are portrayed by the cast. To the same point, for as ineptly as this is written and put together, I genuinely don't know who all the characters were supposed to be, nor where or how they come and go. One might reasonably wonder if 'Mafia vs ninja' weren't actually a giant unfunny joke, because surely no one could accidentally create something so vacuous, empty-headed, insipid, incompetent, gawky, and floundering as this is. From the moment it begins the feature is rancid, and it only ever gets worse - truly, there is never any improvement, and these ninety minutes are an infinite downward spiral of horrible, mindless, senseless "film-making" and "storytelling." I recognize that there really were fair ideas here in the screenplay, and that there really was hard work and skill poured into the action sequences. Unfortunately, the title as it exists squanders every conceivable advantage or spark of worth, and we as viewers are left with nothing but the self-hatred that results from realizing we chose to watch.
However it is you came across this, whatever you think you might get from it, you should not watch it. On the contrary, you should avoid it. You should complain to the folks who operate the places where you found it, and with any luck you can help to scrub this film from existence. You should actively help to ensure that no one else ever makes the same mistake of watching. 'Mafia vs ninja' is appalling, flagrantly amateurish trash, and since it treats its own stunts and action so poorly even these can't work to redeem it. If those making this had approached it with the faintest modicum of earnest care, and consistency, then it might have succeeded, but apparently that was just asking too much. I've seen the bottom of the cinematic barrel, more than once, and I assure with with total sincerity that the bottom of the barrel is where this loathsome, vexing sludge belongs.