@eggrollko
Given everything that’s occurred since, it feels like an entire lifetime ago when Valiant Comics blew up again, arriving back in mainstream comics in the Summer of 2012 aka “The Summer of Valiant”. That spike in popularity led to the announcement in 2016 that they were working on a web-series called Ninjak vs. The Valiant Universe. After four long years it has finally arrived in full-on YouTube and, for certain fans, it was absolutely worth the wait…
It is important to temper expectations, however, because this is a YT movie produced by Bat in the Sun, known for producing the Super Power Beat Down series, so it doesn’t have the budget to produce cinematic quality. But they do well with what they have.
While it’s called Ninjak vs the Valiant Universe, it’s essentially a Unity movie. Ninjak, played by Michael Rowe (Deadshot in Arrow), goes rogue and has to be taken down by the rest of his Unity teammates: Archer & Armstrong (Alex Meglei and Kevin Porter, respectively), Gilad the Eternal Warrior (John Hennigan a.k.a. WWE’s SmackDown Tag Team Champion John Morrison), Livewire (Ciera Foster), Shadowman (Damon Poitier), X-O Manowar (Derek Theler), and Bloodshot (Jason David Frank).
Bloodshot is especially appropriate for two reasons, as this was released to help promote the Bloodshot movie that was released theatrically on March 13 and digitally on March 24 for obvious reasons (read our review here!) and the fact that Frank played Tommy the Green/White Ranger for several years on the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. And, NvVU has a similar level of quality in its acting.
Therein lies the truth about this series. Ninjak vs. The Valiant Universe is perfect for geeks who have a great deal of fondness for the Valiant characters and nostalgia for 90’s action TV shows like Power Rangers, Hercules, and Jack of All Trades, but may not be great for people who don’t fall into both categories. The choreography and special effects are strong, and arguably better than some of the aforementioned shows– expected by anybody who’s seen Super Power Beat Down.
https://youtu.be/DA8YHf-zXsk
The story itself is a passable, but generic, superhero story that’s actually pretty engaging and surprising at times. Ultimately, the biggest “problem” is the acting. There are several scenes where the dialogue elicits laughter when it should generate excitement, while others have both eye-rolling and groan worthy dialogue and delivery.
That said, as someone who grew up watching the Universal Action Pack and the Back2Back Action Hour, I’m not particularly bothered by those things and genuinely enjoyed this 1-hour and 13-minute web movie, which made me wish for an episodic web series in the same vein of those classic 90’s shows alongside large theatrical productions. Ultimately, Ninjak vs the Valiant Universe won’t be for everybody, but there’s a chance it could definitely develop a cult following. 3/5 Valiant Bibles.
-Kevin Palma