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 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 | kung fu | martial artist | martial arts | clan | 

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Taglines:

Raised to become an assassin... until betrayal made him a target.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Fantasy | 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 [France]

Country:

Germany USA

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 USA:

$13,316,158, 29 November 2009, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$38,105,077, 7 February 2010

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director James McTeigue cited the crime thrillers Panic in the Streets (1950), The Getaway (1972) and Badlands (1973) and the martial arts features Ninja Scroll (1993) and Samurai Champloo (2004) as influences for the film.

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Goofs

When Mika enters her home after the power cut, as Mika enters the apartment she shines her torch into her home whilst shutting the door behind her. The light clearly reflects off the camera and lights up the corner of the room behind her.

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Quotes

[Ozunu's face is slashed by Raizo]
Ozunu: Kill him!

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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

Labyrinth
Performed by Oomph

User Reviews

5 points just for having Ninjas

This is a movie about Ninjas doing Ninja things, being stealthy, practicing bad-ass moves, and killing lots of other Ninjas.

If you don't mind a plot that comes straight out of a not very good video game there is enjoyment to be had here. Sho Kosugi is excellent as the master ninja, and a great choice for throwback fans of much better Ninja films like Revenge of the Ninja (last time I saw it I was 8 years old so...) . Rain (the hero ninja) barely says a word through the movie and when he does he sounds a lot like another immortal swordsman, Christopher Lambert.

Unfortunately the Wachowski siblings seem to be getting much worse at special effects. Some of the scenes look absolutely unbelievable and the Ninja training ground almost looks like a student work for a 3D class. It must be noted that the extremely graphic decapitations look great though. Each decapitation is enhanced with buckets of blood that will make any Tarantino fan giddy with dark and kind of disturbing joy.

If you're looking for a realistic Ninja movie (I know I am) I guess you'll have to Watch Leon again and pretend he's Asian. There are a billion plot holes here, Ninjas are un-killable until the movie decides they should be cannon fodder. Your suspension of disbelief will be pushed into overdrive but in the end, a movie about Ninjas doing Ninja things is always going to be at least decent. Well if you're into low art anyway.

Oh and the movie gets an extra point for playing Being Boiled by Human League during the end credits.