Written by Fido
Alright, you go into these low / micro / no budget movies knowing that you’re not getting a sweeping epic filled with glitz, glamour and completely solid filmmaking. I don’t remember ever watching a virtually homemade campy movie like this disappointed in the production quality. All that being a given, I still really didn’t like this thing.
I know from personal experience that if you don’t have control over effects, money to get great locations, tons of on-site production value or a director that really has serious chops you have control over three things – story, script and acting.
And what takes any fun out of the movie that Ninjas vs. Zombies is exactly all three of those things.
The Story:
I got the feeling watching this that it was a bunch of friends sitting around getting seriously baked and throwing out movie ideas. Then the guy with his mouth half full of Ritz crackers and the unidentified leftover dip in the fridge pipes up with, “Ninjas, man they’re cool. And zombies – sweet!” After the murmur of Seth Rogen-inspired laughs fade into memory one of the guys took a pen up and half-assed his way to combining the two into a story.
One big problem I had with this thing was who was the hero. There was the usual cast of slackers you’re supposed to side with, but in the end there should’ve been a focus, someone I cared about a little more than the rest. At different points in the movie I’d sit back and think that this is the guy I’m supposed to follow, only to be shown in another scene that maybe this other guy’s the focus.
That’s a giant problem in a story – not having a clear-cut hero. The villain, while being milquetoast and bland for the amount of Final Cut Pro effects granted to him, was easy to know. Likewise the hero should’ve been equally obvious.
Another massive catch in the film – there’s no ending. What should be the ending is pretty much stepped on and treated as more of an aside than a resolution. In a desperate bid to set up a sequel they forgot to actually finish the first one. That’s one big, stinkin’ “whoops” there.
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