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:

Rain, Rick Yune, Naomie Harris

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rain	...	Raizo
Joon Lee	...	Teenage Raizo
Jonathan Chan-Pensley	...	Yakuza Henchman
Ill-Young Kim	...	Yakuza Mohawk
Yuki Iwamoto	...	Yakuza Couch
Ben Miles	...	Maslow
Naomie Harris	...	Mika
Sung Kang	...	Hollywood
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 Liya Page	...	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 | kung fu | martial artist | martial arts | police officer stabbed | 

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Taglines:

Prepare to enter a secret world of assassins.

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Genres:

Action | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong bloody stylized violence throughout, and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

After Raizo (Rain) is captured by Interpol and chained to the wall, one of the agents looks at him and says, "He looks like he should be in a boy band." Rain started his career in the boy band Fanclub.

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Goofs

Early on, Ozunu demonstrates his mastery over his flesh by cutting his palm and then healing it almost instantly. Yet after Raizo slices Ozunu's face with his blade, the facial scar remains for some time afterwards. If Ozunu had enough skill to heal his wounds, he should have had no scar at all.

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Quotes

Mika Coretti: I know you can't hear me, so I'm sure this doesn't matter but I'm going to say it anyway. I'm just a forensic researcher. It's like a fancy way of saying I'm a librarian. By myself I can't do anything to help you, but I wanted to thank you for saving my life. And I hope you can forgive me for this.

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Crazy Credits

The Warner Bros, Legendary Pictures, Dark Castle and Silver Pictures logos appear from and disappear into darkness, similar to a ninja's shadow-blending ability. They are also completely metallic, with a few streaks of blood.

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Connections

Referenced in The Rotten Tomatoes Show: 2012/The Messenger/Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

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Soundtracks

Being Boiled
Performed by The Human League

User Reviews

Liked it

Lots of blood and guts (you know it's going to be bad when the first scene involves decapitation and blood spurting everywhere) but all around I enjoyed the movie. I went in with an open mind, after only seeing one movie trailer I didn't know what to expect and was pleasantly surprised I liked it as much as I did. If you're not into very violent movies, this isn't for you. It was action packed and pretty intense, squeezing in an actual storyline with all the gore was pretty seamless. The fight Choreography was fantastic and the cinematography was beautiful (reminiscent of the Kill Bill series as far as blood and choreography). The last fight scenes have to be my favorite out of any action/martial arts film and had me in awe. The lead actor (Rain) does a good job and the overall storyline was fairly well written. I read that the screenplay was rewritten in 50some hours, I'm not sure what it was before but the outcome was decent. All in all, a good flick and I recommend it highly.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [France]

Country:

Germany USA France

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 November 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ninja Assassin

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$13,316,158, 29 November 2009

Gross USA:

$38,122,883

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$61,601,280

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Legendary Entertainment, Dark Castle Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1