Ninja Assassin (2009)

A young ninja turns his back on the orphanage that raised him, leading to a confrontation with a fellow ninja from the clan.

Director:

James McTeigue

Writers:

Matthew Sand (screenplay), J. Michael Straczynski (screenplay),

Stars:

Sung Kang, Naomie Harris, Rain

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sung Kang	...	Hollywood
Randall Duk Kim	...	Tattoo Master
Jonathan Chan-Pensley	...	Yakuza Henchman
Ill-Young Kim	...	Yakuza Mohawk
Yuki Iwamoto	...	Yakuza Couch
Ben Miles	...	Maslow
Naomie Harris	...	Mika
Rain	...	Raizo
Linh Dan Pham	...	Pretty Ninja (as Linh-Dan Pham)
Fang Yu	...	Laundromat Manager (as Yu Fang)
Adriana Altaras	...	Landlady
Shô Kosugi	...	Ozunu (as Sho Kosugi)
Kylie Goldstein	...	Young Kiriko (as Kylie Liya Goldstein)
Sungwoong Yoon	...	Young Raizo
Eleonore Weisgerber	...	Mrs. Sabatin

Storyline

Trained since childhood to be a lethal killer, Raizo has since turned his back on the Ozunu clan that raised him and now seeks revenge for their heartless murders. Teaming up with Europol investigator Mika, Raizo steadily butchers his enemies while inching ever closer to the long-awaited bloody reunion with his former master.

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Plot Keywords:

ninja | clan | europol agent | assassin | revenge | 

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Taglines:

Fear not the weapon but the hand that wields it.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong bloody stylized violence throughout, and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [fr]

Country:

USA Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 November 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Asesino Ninja

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£187,285 (UK) (22 January 2010)

Gross:

$38,105,077 (USA) (5 February 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros, Legendary Pictures, Dark Castle Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The fight scenes were staged without having to have recourse to wirework or digital finetuning, except for the shadow-blending VFX.

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Goofs

Through out the entire movie blood is spraying and gushing out of people getting killed, but when ever the ground is shown there is only a few drops of blood. The amount of blood being shown would create puddles on the ground.

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Quotes

Mika Coretti: So you said you found something?
Ryan Maslow: Yeah, I was digging around to see what I could come up with and I found this. A report, friend of mine in Moscow tipped me to it. It was written during the height of the Cold War by a high-ranking KGB Agent named Aleksei Sabotin. In it he raises the posibility that a number of political assassinations were conducted by an ancient but very sophisticated network he calls The Nine Clans. Mind you, he doesn't call them Ninjas.
Mika Coretti: What happened to him?
Ryan Maslow: [jokingly] The ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

Part of the closing credits take place in a montage of spinning ninja weaponry, blood splashes and blurred ninja arenas.

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Connections

Featured in The Rotten Tomatoes Show: The Road/Ninja Assassin/Old Dogs (2009)

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Soundtracks

"Shazam!"
Performed by Spiderbait

User Reviews

awesome

Who knew that the most insanely violent, ridiculously brutal and psychotically gory film of the year would be Ninja Assassin. Look there's not much to it think 300 with Ninjas or Braveheart with less emotional involvement and ninjas. It's quite obvious that the people responsible for this film set out to make the most ass kicking Ninja movie ad they even one uped themselves. i remember when I was younger Ninjas were kinda cool but since than they've lost their flair and so has the martial arts genre in general this one brings all that back with a hellacious gut punch. Visually the film is incredible. It's unlike anything you've ever seen. The fighting is quick, furious and the story although not completely involving is involving enough so that we kinda like the characters. What the film does explosively well is decapitate, disembowel and explode it's victims across it's blood soaked screen. Imagine slow motion shots of a man diving out of the way of 100's of ninja stars, slicing people in half with samurai swords and being born out of shadows literally. It's an exciting piece of cinematic brilliance. i can't speak for the actual quality of this film despite the visual flair but I don't think anyone seeing Ninja assassin will be going in with a too critical eye. It delivers on its title and the trailer's promises and more. It's just freaking crazy as hell.