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NINJA ASSASSIN (2009) MTV has scored the exclusive first trailer for James McTeigue’s NINJA ASSASSIN, starring Korean pop star Rain as a ninjitsu-trained assassin who breaks ranks from a clan of assassins to join a Europol agent (Naomie Harris) in taking on the killer clan. Sho Kosugi fans will see the 1980s-era ninja movie icon prominently displayed as Rain’s instructor.

Rain spent six months training for this movie which is uncommon for Hollywood action roles of any kind. According to McTeigue, the director wanted to move away from gravity-defying wirework action and ground it greater realism.

There is already talk of the film becoming a franchise if it proves to be the international success that its makers hope it will be.

NINJA ASSASSIN is scheduled for release on November 25.

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  • Whydoesitmatter?

    Looks ok, too much uncecessary CGI, feels like the 80's/90's ninja movies… barely saw Rain, they stole the kid beatdown scene from 300…we got a glimpse of Rain maybe 12 sec total in the whole trailer. As of right now the fight from the Last Samurai's Ninja's seem better than what they showed… ok, someone did a twisting flip… ooooohhhh that must be a ninja skill for the mtv generation… FAIL, Bring on Ninja Scroll!!!

  • tikkiexx

    that was awesome. definately looking forward to this. i didnt see a problem with the CG, but whatever. i heard the movie was pretty gory so i dont think well be able to tell much until we see some unedited footage.

  • Name

    Yeah…too much CGI. It could still be cool and I'll wait till I see a full fight before I decide on seeing it. Till then I am cautiously hopeful.

  • danielzelter

    Looks less crappy than Shamalamadingdong's Avatar, but it's clearly aspiring to be another DB: E-style Razzie contender.

  • http://www.metrocardfame.com/ Nigel Clarke

    I agree with the CGI comments already made… however, I'm more interested in the story. Looks decent though…

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kessa-Sun/100000064182277 Kessa Sun

    looks pretty badass to me…

  • http://www.alivenotdead.com/davidsakurai David Sakurai

    Cool.. Kudos to them for bringing back Sho Kosugi!! Great to see the master back on the silver screen.. Definitely looking forward to see this!

  • tikkiexx

    i dont really get all the anti CG comments. seems like bandwagon jumping to me. the only thing that was CG was the scythe in ONE scene and the shurikens. and as far as i know theyre not using a lot of wirework. i figured people on this sight would be a little more supportive of a cool looking martial arts film that seems to have a fairly decent budget. not to mention Sho Kosugi and i think Lee Woo Ping even worked on the film. and the movie is a hard R, so they can only show small snippets of the fight scenes. at least wait to see a bit more before throwing the flick under a bus.

  • Pingback: Ninja Assassin, il trailer del nuovo film di James McTeigue | Cinema che "blogga"

  • Marcus

    That CGI weapon on a chain looked well dodgy imho. I do still hope the movie's good but I still have doubts about a) Can hollywood make a good martial arts film. b) Can pop star Rain pull it off. and c) the CGI, will it detract the makers good work?

    Tikkiexx, what don't you get? personally I want to see real talent using real “movie weapons” not altered cgi. CGI can do anything but isn't as breathtaking as the realthing, even editted.

  • darrinkemp

    Sho Kosugi's son Kane wouldn't have had to be trained for six months for this role. I guess its always easier to train a novice for six months that to hire some one who already knows how.

  • Whydoesitmatter?

    Hopefully they will release a red band trailer to showcase more natural non cgi fighting. I hope the fights arent cut into 10,000 edits for simple movements… HOLD the damn camera in place and the let the talent do their job. Why do all this training to leave it up to the editors and hack job directors who rely on cgi and shaky camera movement… Bring on Ninja Scroll… DEATH TO THE SHAKY CAMERA!!!

  • Whydoesitmatter?

    Good choice of words, guess the money people felt a pop star would put more butts in the seats instead of the son of a legendary asian movie star… go figure…

  • tikkiexx

    have you guys seen the training videos? trust me these guys are the real thing. i see what you guys are saying but i think the CG is being used to enhance the fight scenes not cheat. they were using real weapons in the training video so i wouldnt worry about it. and as far as Kane Kosugi goes, does he even English? can he act? did you guys ever consider that? and ive seen one of his movies and hes not bad but he didnt have any english lines so who knows. anyway they might show the movie at the Comicon so hopefully someone will review it and we,ll know more. i just didnt see enough in that short low quality trailer to sit here and make judgements. im just trying to be positive about it. we could use a big blockbuster martial arts film in the States.

  • tony

    on slashfilm.com they saw screening of the movie at comic-con and they said it was good and its very bloody

    heres the link and watch what they said about the movie
    http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/07/24/comic-con-v…

    also to darrinkemp and Whydoesitmatter? the reason why Rain is the lead is because Rain worked with Wachowski Brothers and Joel Silver on Speed Racer they liked him so much they offer him to star in another movie which is been producer by Wachowski Brothers and Joel Silver and directed by James McTeigue.

  • BruisedLo

    finally a trailer! seeing Sho Kosugi again is the big one. i can't wait to see the movie, november seems kinda long.

    enough with the CGI talk already, in TYG, if u watched the director yap about the fight scene with no cuts, he mention using CGI to edit out errors. so CGI for most martial art films, now and days, i think its just to either fix a scene or to enhance it.

  • Whydoesitmatter?

    Oh the training video on youtube!! I forgot about that, if any of those fights are what we are gonna see in the film, then it should be a great action film. Of course i understand CGI is necessary on certain parts… but from i remember seeing in the video the action looked just fine without any enhancements… but in the end its the directors vision…

  • cumpa

    The trailer doens't loot too bad, but it does not impress me at all, you just can cut someone on the face with a scythe and do little damage like that, his face should had been split in half, and the clip where Rain jump from a building you can clearly see that is all CGI, one of the reason why I'm looking forward to Scott Adkins's Ninja is because of the realism.
    tikkiexx, A ninja movie is not a Ninja movie without the weapons, CGI them and it become an animation or a fantasy movie.
    The Wachowski brothers should stay way from any MA form for their movies. If want to see some crazy ninja weapons I just watch my shinobi serie again. I'll wait for more footage before I make my decision but so far looks like rental to me.

  • iganinja

    Im sure this movie is going to be very entertaining and have excellent fight scenes judging from the choreography fight video, But the feeling of this trailer seems to over use the cgi which makes people think it may be full of cgi. Maybe the 2nd trailer will give the movie some better scope.

  • tony

    guys the cgi is to enhance the movie plus you need to remember Ninja Assassin is influences by manga too the director James McTeigue said in a interview Ninja Assassin is influences by Ninja Scroll and Samurai Champloo so he added some of these elements into the film made thats why you see cgi in the movie too.

    heres the full interview
    http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id…

    heres a youtube HD quality of the trailer to enjoy
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyI8wXepA3I

  • tikkiexx

    Cumpa trust me the weapons are real. and apparently the movie is gorier than most horror movies so im sure theres plenty of peoples heads and arms getting cut off. if thats all youre concerned about is blood and gore you should be happy. and like i said earlier maybe you werent looking at the trailer closely. there is only ONE scene where they used CG for the scythe and the rest was for Shurikens. its obvious he was going for the Ninja Scroll rapid fire shurikens. you people do know the movie is influenced by Manga and Anime too dont you? and the last Zatoichi movie used a ton of CG to ENHANCE the fight scenes and i dont remember people saying the weapons were fake and there was oo much CG. and i dont see how you can compare Ninja to this. that movie may be ok, but it looks pretty damn cheesy and cheap like the direct to video movie that it is. youre comparing that to a movie done by the Wachowski brothers thats written by J. Michael Straczyinsky and Lee Woo Ping helped out with the choreography. plus Sho Kosugi. ill take Ninja Assassin any day.

  • Whydoesitmatter?

    Ok, tikkiexx if u are going to compare be FAIR… im sure ninja assassin had a budget of at least $50mill and ninja might of had a budget of $7mill at the most… See the difference? Production, talent, set design, directors, choreographers, studios, etc. Yeah the world will compare the two, but the martial arts wolrd should and hopefully will appreciate both. Maybe Cumpa likes ninja due to the subway fight or something where it was just raw action… wtf is hollywood waiting on? Who is on the level of scott adkins that is NOT doing theatrical films?

  • dan

    all i have to say is at least they cast a asian to play the lead role in a big blockbuster movie

  • Bill Mills

    Not a big fan of wire fu personally and I think a lot of people are hoping this flops, but it has a good look to it here. The guy is shredded, the chain & sickle is not an overused weapon, and the production values are very good. How will it all play out? Who can tell right now. Keep an open mind.

  • tikkiexx

    i wasnt really knocking Ninja Whydoesitmatter. im actually very interested in it. but youre right, i cant knock the guy for liking what he likes.

  • PurpleCobra74

    I think this looks awesome. V for Vendetta was great with great fights. Filmed well too.

    Why are martial arts film fans beating up on this. Least Hollywood is giving it a chance.

    Adkin's Ninja film looks good to. Realistic. You haven;t seen the clip of the ninja jumping off the building. lol

    Hollywood hasn't made any good martial arts films……Enter The Dragon anyone?

  • Whydoesitmatter?

    Enter the dragon?? lol.. 30yrs ago my friend… We as fans simply want hollywood to deliver good stories with great action. Yeah, the jump off the building was… um… interesting… but im sure with a bigger budget it would have looked good.. i think they were going for what batman did. That came out good… but it had a $100mill plus budget… (btw, lets not even get started on the fights from T.D.K.) Keysei on film??!! FAIL!!!

  • kuroiokami

    well Ninja and Ninja Assassin are ninja movies but are different. Ninja with scott adkins concentrates on more of the BUDO and BUSHIDO aspects of martial arts, While Ninja Assassin is inspires by anime & manga and they got the money why now go all out I agree that NINJA does look kinda straight to DVD but Adkins kicks ass and Ninja Assassin I am happy to say that im glad someone gave some money to a martial arts film and the Wachowski Bros are the ones to do it. Granted speed racer sucked but the matrix series made ALOT of money the first one made over $400 million , the second made over $700 million and I think the third made like $600 million so unless anybody can pen a better film and film A BETTER MOVIE they should just well shut up and wait numbers dont lie.Im looking forward to both movies coming out cuz Ninjas are finally get some burn again .we should support both so hollywood would make more martial arts film.

  • tikkiexx

    hey Speed Racer wasnt that bad. i was a huge fan of the original so i was a little biased. some of the kiddy stuff sucked but the actual races were awesome. and it was very respectful to the original cartoon. anyway im with Kuroiokami, im just glad to see Ninjas getting some shine and i hope both movies succeed. and they both look awesome in different ways.

  • stdthagreat

    This looks like a dark superhero movie. Nevertheless it looks entertaining. But c'mon yall. It's a fact that they don't make movies like they used to (all genres). Sure a really good film comes out now and then but theres no use in being miserable about it. This whole “us vs. Hollywood” attitude is getting old. Both Ninja and Ninja Assasin have something going for themselves.

  • tikkiexx

    and lets be honest, most of those ninja movies from back in the day were absolutely horrible. you can definately blame Hollywood for killing the genre back in the 80s. and the fact that most of the stars of those movies were white guys who didnt know a lick of martial arts didnt help. lol. if it wasnt for the couple of Sho Kosugi movies i doubt the genre would have ever taken off.

  • Rhythm-X

    SPEED RACER was excellent; that it got dismembered by the same critics who fell all over themselves to praise the genuinely poor INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL is the purest sort of FAIL. SPEED RACER should have left the Oscars with awards for its musical score and editing – the way the first 20 minutes sets up the backstory of the Racer family's troubles while showing us two races separated by decades, all seamlessly given to us at the same time and all accompanied by Giacchino's score, the best of the year – that's the sort of filmmaking that reminds me why I love movies so much.

  • kilroy

    you guys make me laugh ok there is cgi in this movie but you forgot Scott Adkins movie Ninja also has some effects too its bad but they used some effects in that movie too

  • Jonathan V.

    Looked it up. Kane Kosugi is a California born and speaks fluent English. However, if his wikipedia article is correct, it would be pretty unlikely that he'd work with his father:
    “Kosugi and his father are no longer on speaking terms due to Kane choosing a career on the screen instead of helping to run some of his schools under the banner of his institute, and even taking some of Sho's staff with him. In reference to Kane, Sho was reported as saying on a television show with fortuneteller Kazuko Hosoki, 'My son is a coward!' “

    Actually, doesn't this sound a bit like a runaway ninja story straight out of an anime? Looks like another case of life imitating art.

  • tikkiexx

    thanks for the info Jonathan V. thats really interesting. it sucks to see a father and son not get along tho. and yes it does sound like something out of an anime or comic book. and arent there two Kosugi brothers? Shane and Kane right? ive seen them compete on the Ninja Warrior show on G4.

  • Jonathan V.

    No prob tikkie. Yeah, imdb reports that after a stint as a computer technician, Shane is working in his father's institute and Taiko group.

    In your previous post, you questioned Kane's acting ability, but I think if he actually did land Rain's role, acting probably wouldn't be an issue.

    Just set up a camera, provide some cool ninja weapons, throw them both on the same set, and record the interaction. They'd probably inadvertently act out the story of Ninja Assassin.

    Of course I'm joking. I'm actually fine with Rain in the lead role. When it comes to martial arts movies, nationality is not so much of interest to me as long as the actors possess the physicality to put on a good fight scene. From the training videos I saw on youtube, Rain definitely put in some work. He may be green to action cinema, but he doesn't seem amateurish to me at all.

  • tikkiexx

    well that answers my question as to why the Kosugi brothers dont do more movies. seems like theyre pretty busy guys. and considering they were born in America id assume their english is probably better than Rains.lol.

  • darrinkemp

    Johnathan v. thanks for that post.I wasn't aware of the issues between Sho and Kane.I lost my old man at 19.The fucked up part is that our last conversation,literally the last time I saw the man alive was an argument over some stupid shit that I can't even recall.To this day it makes me sad that I never got a chance to tell the man how much I loved him.

  • Jonathan V.

    I'm sorry that things ended up like that, but I wouldn't let it get you too down. Some things are just known without words.

    I hope someday the Kosugis can put aside their issues and start making movies together again. If anyone can resurrect the Ninja movie subgenre, it would be them. Maybe if Ninja Assassin is successful, it might inspire them to come out with a ninja movie of their own.

  • darkwarrior

    Issac Florentine,s Ninja trailer looks way better than this.
    I can,t wait to see it.

    I like the way Rain looks but the trailer does nothing to make me want to see it.

    BTW has there been release date for Ninja???

  • tweeb

    The Master has been dead for a long time & so has his prodigal son. This movie looks exciting. It's time to move on now. This movie looks a heck of a lot better than the 80's crap.

  • tweeb

    The Master has been dead for a long time & so has his prodigal son. This movie looks exciting. It's time to move on now. This movie looks a heck of a lot better than the 80's crap.