Take the X-Men, combine them with Romeo and Juliet and mix in a little Richard Chamberlain Shogun and what do you get?  Shinobi: Heart Under Blade.  This Japanese production is indeed a hybrid of those three creations and caught my interest some time back.  It wasn’t until recently that my friend Goran reminded me of the movie and let me borrow his copy.  So, I kicked off my New Year’s Blu-ray-watching with this foreign film (English subtitles included).  Shinobi is set in Japan in 1614 where peace seems to finally be at home across the land.  Meanwhile, small pockets of people continue to go about their daily lives, living in hidden villages, far out of sight from the Shogun ruling Japan.  These are no ordinary folk, however.  These are the Shinobi…individuals born with extraordinary powers who are trained for nothing more than the ultimate fight (not all that dissimilar from mutants in the Marvel Comics universe).  Read the full story