By Geno McGahee
On October 15th, ZOMBIE NINJAS VS. BLACK OPS will be released on VOD in the US and Canada. This film is reflective of the times. We are in a video game culture and this film plays out like a video game. This is CALL OF DUTY done live action with some great cinematography, a great look….but it didn’t have the fun factor that a movie like this would need.
A high-rise building is the home of Saisei Security, which gives birth to former soldiers turned zombie ninja. They are quick, vicious, and have all the skills of normal ninjas, but they can’t be killed easily. Bullets don’t do much. Fire extinguishers seem to work OK. The head zombie ninja (Soa “the Hulk” Palelei) proves to be the most menacing and biggest trouble for the good guys, which are hard to define here. The Black Ops are dispatched to take care of business, but they seem to have some ulterior motives.
Dillon (Adam T. Perkins) along with scientist, Mali (Kira Caine), is in a fight for survival. Mali holds the key to unlocking the mystery of zombie ninjas and she also has a price on her head. Dillon is the hero and Perkins plays the role incredibly well. Caine is also very convincing in her role as the tough but emotional Mali. The scenes with Perkins and Caine were compelling.
The Black Ops and Zombie Ninjas continue to battle it out and we get some twists and turns along the way. As the chaos ensues, Dillon and Mali continue to find their way out of it, but right when they think they’ve made it, they come face to face with another evil.
Written by Kylie Claude and Directed by Rody Claude, ZOMBIE NINJAS VS. BLACK OPS fails to meet the criteria for a film like this. This really does play out like a video game and not in a good way. It feels like you’re watching somebody else play and you know how much fun that is. The emphasis of the film seemed to be on the action elements rather than the story and the end product paid for it. The zombie ninjas weren’t frightening but then again, zombies in ninja costumes aren’t easy to take seriously.
The film has its good things. I loved the cinematography and overall look of the film and Perkins and Caine did do their best, but there just isn’t much substance here. With the name, you would expect a big time fun factor, and it trudges along slowly with repetitive action scenes and not much more. ZOMBIE NINJAS VS. BLACK OPS might strike a chord with the younger audience that plays these games with regularity, but I found it mediocre.
Rating: 4/10