By | Published December 18, 2008

As Isaac Florentine puts the finishing touches on his latest film NINJA, stills and teaser poster art from the modern-day martial arts actioner starring Scott Adkins (THE SHEPHERD) and Tsuyoshi Ihara (LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA) are gradually making their way onto the internet, some of which reveal their distinctive ninja costumes.

What clearly stands out are the ninja costumes, which according to the early poster art will be a selling point. Both suits appear to be partially armored which would make sense in a modern setting with guns. Chris Nolan’s Batman films have taken a similar approach.

Adkins’ suit appears to be channeling Sonny Chiba from his SHADOW WARRIORS TV series where he portrayed Hattori Hanzo. Ihara’s sci-fi-like suit looks more like something out of a tokusatsu series. That isn’t surprising given that Florentine has previously directed episodes of the POWER RANGERS and is well versed in Japanese culture.

Yes, the costumes look cheesy but I’m more interested in seeing how the action pans out. Adkins has already proven himself to be a top-notch screen fighter with mainstream potential while Florentine is easily the best action film director in the direct-to-video market today.

Unlike THE SHEPHERD, where Florentine was forced to leave the final editing of the film in less capable hands, word on the street is that Florentine is fully engaged in the editing of NINJA and is taking the time to get it right. As many fans of martial arts film know, proper editing is supremely important and can mean all the difference between a sloppy mess of a fight scene and a kinetic masterpiece.

Although I would have loved to have seen a well known Japanese action actor like Hiroyuki Sanada placed opposite Adkins, Tsuyoshi Ihara was a very smart casting choice. Ihara has strong acting chops as evidenced by his performance in Clint Eastwood’s masterful war drama LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA. He is also a member of the famous Japan Action Club, Japan’s premiere stunt fighting organization formerly headed by Sonny Chiba so he should be able to hold his own on screen.

The burning question that will continue to fester until fans get to see this film is can NINJA compete with the Wachowskis’ NINJA ASSASSIN? Both films are coming in 2009 and both are aimed squarely at rebooting the ninja sub-genre. NINJA ASSASSIN has the bigger budget and the stunt team behind the eye-popping sword-and-sandal actioner 300. But I wouldn’t bet against Florentine’s film either. In addition to its previously mentioned assets, it also has Akihiro Noguchi for its fight coordinator. He is a member of the insane Alpha Stunts team and can count impressive screen credits that include Steve Wang’s DRIVE and the highly regarded Japanese karate drama BLACK BELT (2007).

For more NINJA pics and the latest news regarding Scott Adkins visit Scott Adkins Fanz. For even more pics, visit the official site for NINJA’s DP Ross Clarkson.

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  • dac1138

    this film won’t pose any danger to Ninja Assassin budget wise or release wise but based on Adkins and Florentine’s track record this will certainly take the prize action-wise. hopefully we’ll get a trailer soon which should help settle any questions of tone and editing.

  • DBSK42

    UGH!!! This movie looks like its going to suck.

    EVERYBODY WATCH NINJA ASSASSIN!!!

    Support “Bi RAIN”!!!

  • ILoveRain

    DBSK42, r u a fan or an anti-fan of RAIN.

    Why did you make fans of Adkins and martial art film angry with foolish words?
    “Ninja”s success does not mean “Ninja assassin”s failure.

    I just wish that martial art fans could eliminate their preconceptions about “RAIN” using his training movie.

    However, I do not like a ninja with a gun.
    A real ninja must fight with a sword and “ninja stars”!

  • Mike Leeder

    i’m really looking forward to seeing both “Ninja” and “Ninja Assassin” , for a number of reasons…

    “Ninja” directed by Isaac Florentine and featuring Scott Adkins in his first full blooded lead role, which will really give him a chance to show his acting and action chops off to full effect and give Florentine, a lifelong exponent of Japanese martial arts himself a chance to showcase his directorial skills, and yeah plenty of kick ass action choreography courtesy of Yuji and his team, and Ross Clarksons solid cinematography.

    And “Ninja Assassin”, which gives Rain his first international leading role(he showed potential in “Speed Racer”)and come on the movie also marks the return of Sho Kosugi to the big screen…the recent release of the promo reel of Rain in training/fight rehearsals does raise the expectations

    But I hope we’re not going to have “Rain” fans shooting down “Ninja” before they’ve seen a frame of film, just because the movie doesnt feature the Korean songster….lets hope both films do well, which will help the martial arts action genre and give us all the opportunity to see more of these kind of movies down the road

  • gunswordfist

    I was laughing at Ninja Assassin being said to be competition for Ninja (especially since kfc already said Ninja would destroy NA) until I saw this part.

    NINJA ASSASSIN has the bigger budget and the stunt team behind the eye-popping sword-and-sandal actioner 300

    But then I saw this part:

    it also has Akihiro Noguchi for its fight coordinator. He is a member of the insane Alpha Stunts team and can count impressive screen credits that include Steve Wang’s DRIVE

    DRIVE is the absolute best martial arts scifi movie ever made. Also it’s the only road adventure martial arts action movie I know of. With this team behind Florentine and Scott Adkins, Ninja should DESTROY Ninja Assassin.

  • edher_M.A.

    I really, really hope BOTH movies do great. I’ll watch and support both films. Ninja movies needs to comeback.

  • Tikki EXX

    man im in Ninja heaven. im looking forward to both movies equally. i dont see them as competing anyway. ones a big budget Hollywood movie the other not so much. we should just be happy that we might get two quality Ninja movies in the same year.

  • doom

    ummm… maybe they could make the lead of NINJA VS the lead of NINJA ASSASSIN’s movie.
    like what they did to ALIENs VS PREDATORS, that would be awesome, anyone??

  • Dragon(i)

    Who cares which movie is better? we can watch both of them, and they will both make money.You can’t compete with a 50 million movie with a B-movie now can you action story,fights,but not CGI? advertising etc it speaks for its self.
    I’m looking forward to seeing both regrdless who are in them.