Ninja 2: Shadow of a Tear (2013)

After buying jewelry for his wife, Casey is followed by thugs.  But our ninja is wise to their bad intentions, leads them into an alley  and when they demand his valuables, he beats the hell out of them. Go Casey, go!

Soon he's home having a nice dinner with his wife. As they happily bask in each other presence, he surprises her with the necklace he bought earlier in the day. It's the symbol for happiness, and they talk about how much they're looking forward to having their first child. In other words, she's going to die horribly within the next five minutes.

Sure enough, after returning home from a late night snack run for his pregnant wife, Casey finds her dead and the apartment ransacked.  Distraught, Casey decides to accept the offer from his friend Nakabara, played by Kane Kosugi, to train at Nakabaras dojo in Thailand.  But Casey is lost in his grief and while sparring at the dojo, he loses his temper and loses control.  So he goes off to get drunk and then beats some guys up at a bar.

The next day, when they discover a student at the dojo has been killed, and Casey notices the marks on his neck match the marks on his wifes neck, Casey becomes focused on his revenge. Ninja actions about to get real.

I love ninja movies, and seeing Kane Kosugi in one is very cool (even though he doesn't play a ninja).  I saw all Sho Kosugi's movies in the theater when they were released, and I've been a fan of ninjas ever since. Now, you've got to wade through a bunch of terrible movies to find the decent ones, but they're worth it.

While this is a good action movie, there's not a whole lot of ninja in it.  Sure, Casey has a lot of fight scenes and there's some great choreography, but ninja fans like to see the ninjas - stealthily appearing and disappearing at will.  But that's lacking in this film.  So if you can deal with Casey not being in a ninja outfit that much, it's a decent action flick and worth a watch.