Sometimes I will watch a Japanese film I have no prior knowledge of and immediately recognise that it is based on an anime. BLACKFOX: Age of the Ninja (2019) is one of those films. It is in fact a live action spin off of BLACKFOX (2019) and was released in the same year. And oh boy you can tell it is based off an anime, which acts as both a negative and positive for the film. On the negative side it means the film is stupidly silly and over the top. The two mediums of anime and live action are so different, and what works for one won’t necessarily work for the other. In this case, the cartoonist nature of the film is jarring at times. There are several scenes throughout the film where I felt had they been animated they would have worked much better, but as it is live action it feels far too ridiculous. This is more obvious when the film implements cgi. The sequences themselves are fine, but the special effects themselves look so cheap and do not mesh well with the rest of the film. I saw someone describe it as Power Rangers like and that is a very accurate description. On the other hand, the positive side of the film being based off an anime is that the film feels stupidly silly and over the top. Overall the film is definitely not great, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t having a lot of fun watching it, even if my enjoyment didn’t necessarily come from the areas the filmmakers intended. One genuine positive of the film are the action scenes. Although they do often feel very choreographed they are shot well and you can tell exactly what is going on at all times, which is something many Hollywood films struggle with. They also feel like they have weight to them, so although I can tell they are choreographed they do still look like they are making contact and causing damage. On the whole I don’t think I can recommend the film as its shortcomings slightly outweigh the positives, but I still had fun with it.
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