I haven't seen "The Road" yet, but it will probably be boring or pretentious. Barring that film, Ninja Assassin is the best of 2009.

The movie is AWESOME. It is not just some martial arts film where everyone speaks with a heavy Chinese accent, since it takes place in Europe (and thus we have civilized people to talk to us). I have never heard of anyone in the movie, though the female lead's boss might be the one competant guy in the TV station from "V for Vendetta." And I think he was in a sitcom with Norrington from "Pirates of the Caribbean." He sticks in my mind because of the strangest line in the movie:
"Which of these items doesn't belong:
Space shuttle
Laptop computer
Nanotechnology
Ninjas?"
WTF is his problem? They're ALL awesome things our parents never heard of growing up! Maybe nanotech, because it isn't real? Laptops because they aren't deadly? Spaceshuttles because they are so prosaic and unremarkable these days, and seem to represent a plateau in space travel. It was a very strange line.

And there were also a bunch of oriental guys, one of whom is named Rain.

The fight scenes were really good and fluid, if a bit over the top in the beginning, where they didn't show anything other than body parts getting sliced by unseen combatants...but that is what is SUPPOSED to happen when ninjas attack! The ninja stealth was better done than any movie I have ever seen. The way they emerge from shadows is closest approached by the things that avenged Patrick Swayze in "Ghost," without the crappy animation. When we actually get to see ninja fights later on, the hero gets sliced up as a result, and it just happens in the course of the fight, rather than getting the major wound in a shot where the action slows down to linger on it or something like that. There is just a quick showing of the major wound, but the fight goes on. You don't see that often enough.

Another good point is the interaction of westerners and ninjas. Specifically, when they are unprepared, the ninjas waste them, but when they go in ready for the ninjas, their automatic firearms actually DO take a toll. Also, there are no occidental ninjas. The rule of thumb in movies seems to be that whatever race comes up with something, a member of the other race is better at it. Thus we have all those movies where white guys are the BEST ninja of the clan and so on (American Ninja, The Glimmer Man, The Last Samurai, The Forbidden Kingdom, Batman Begins, Elektra, GI Joe), while the asian guys are the technology or scientific geniuses. None of that here. The ninjas are Japanese or look enough like it to pass muster, and the westerners stick to what westerners are best at - hiring ninjas, getting chopped up or relying on a ninja do solve all their problems. Another interesting thing about guns vs. ninjas: in the one scene where modern combat techniques are used with the greatest success against the ninjas, we see that it IS a bloodbath, with both sides taking a toll on one another (which should be expected given their enormous respective advantages in vastly different & unrelated areas), but without the movie apparently "cheating" to force the plot along. I also noted that the modern soldiers used tactics that seem like they would work well on a zombie infestation, as well as a ninja clan: stay in a loose group, cover each other's back, don't get bogged down fighting them at their game, and just fire away, hosing them down with lead to minimize their bullet-dodging or injury-ignoring capabilities.

The hero's motivation was also well-played out and made clear and plausible as well. The romantic sub-plots did not drag down the film, and watching a kid get bastinadoed by his teacher was vicariously satisfying. Overall, it was a great film, with everything you need, aside from zombies & hot chicks. Still, better "Ninja Assassin" than what Katherine Heigl does for a living.