The only question worth asking about a movie called Ninja Assassin is this: are the action sequences any good?

Only some of the time. Which is pretty disappointing for a movie overseen by the Wachowski brothers, creators of the Matrix trilogy, and directed by James McTeigue, who helmed their production of V For Vendetta.

The first hour just flies by, cutting between the origin story of super-warrior Raizo (Korean pop star Rain, who’s become a much more confident actor since we last saw him in the Wachowskis’ Speed Racer) and our hero’s present-day adventure in Berlin, protecting an American EUROPOL agent (Naomie Harris) from his former associates, an ancient clan of ninja who really don’t appreciate her having stumbled onto their existence.

McTeigue is an enthusiastic director and deserves points for casting 80s badass Sho Kosugi as Raizo’s formidable sensei, and for using CGI to let his actors spurt vivid, gloopy blood that takes the edge off the wall-to-wall violence.

But once everything is in place for the epic showdown, it’s V For Vendetta all over again as McTeigue abandons pacing and plot for a climactic orgy of long, oddly repetitive confrontations, all staged in frustrating semi-darkness.