By | Published May 11, 2009

THE LEGEND OF KAMUI (2009)

Update: A new, slightly longer teaser trailer for Yoichi Sai’s period ninja actioner THE LEGEND OF KAMUI is now available. (Scroll down to view the first teaser.) Also, Shockiku has set a release date in Japan for Sept. 19th.

Hollywood won’t be alone in bringing fresh ninja action to screens in 2009. While anticipation for the Wachowskis’ NINJA ASSASSIN and Isaac Florentine’s NINJA grows, Shockiku Co. is putting the finishing touches on their own ninja movie. THE LEGEND OF KAMUI is coming out later this year but a teaser trailer is now available.

The $18 million dramatic actioner is directed by Yoichi Sai (BLOOD AND BONES) and stars Kenichi Matsuyama (DETROIT METAL CITY), Koyuki (THE LAST SAMURAI), Suzuka Ohgo (MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA), Hideaki Ito (SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO), Anna Tsuchiya (KAMIKAZE GIRLS), and Hong Kong actor Ekin Cheng (THE STORM WARRIORS).

Koyuki, who is known to Western audiences for portraying the love interest opposite Tom Cruise in THE LAST SAMURAI, was brought in to replace first pick Rinko Kikuchi, who was injured during production.

KAMUI is based on a serialized Japanese graphic novel by Sanpei Shirato that began appearing in the pages of GARO magazine in 1964. It ran for seven years and was first introduced to the U.S. in 1987 by Viz Comics.

Matsuyama portrays the title character, a ninja on the run from his fellow clansmen, hoping to put his violent life behind him. In his flight he encounters Sugaru (Koyuki), a female ninja who is also running away. An incident brings Kamui to a small fishing village where locals befriend him just as his pursuers close in.

THE LEGEND OF KAMUI is headed to Japanese theaters in September.

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  • Kage no Goddamn

    I have seen NINJA ASSASSIN and it is the bloodiest, greatest action film in years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RAIN looks like a Frank Frazetta painting come to life and Sho Kosuge slices his way across the screen looking like 60 years of badass road. Prepare yourselves. NINJA ASSASSIN delivers!!!!!

  • http://w ynever

    Did you see it at comic con?

  • Kage no Goddamn

    Special screening in the midwest.

  • Dashnak

    This looks like a GREAT MOVIE !!! I’ve been loving martial arts movies from my childhood, and you know what ? They keep surprising me with new stories. NINJA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • TikkiEXX

    looks sweet. so Ninja Assassin is that good huh? they havent even shown a trailer. im dying to see that friggin movie.

  • Ayrshire

    hey friend, do u mind telling us some more about NINJA ASSASSIN? I’m just curious cuz there’s no trailer yet. Not many people know the movie yet. I wonder why they can’t release a single trailer! The shooting has finished for a long time.

  • tony

    i watched the trailer from comic con and it’s
    so cool . i’m so surprise rain’s so cool in
    the moive .

  • BruisedLo

    talking about ninja assassin on this teaser? that’s rude lol. anyway i’m curious about the film too, i wanna see sho kosugi’s comeback.

  • Kage no Goddamn

    NINJA ASSASSIN is like a martial jaws/aliens movie. The Ninjas come out of the shadows and nothing can stop them except another ninja. Simple story, beautifully filmed and choreographed.
    Very gory and very RED.
    LOVED IT!!!!!

  • Solid Ronin

    Looks promising. But I would have like to see more of the fights in this trailer, I couldn’t get a sense of where the action was going.

  • Ayrshire

    sorry for that, maybe we can talk about NINJA ASSASSIN privately?
    Kage no Goddamn, can i have your MSN address if you like

  • http://www.youtube.com/xin0 xino

    Wow!

    Looks sick! Just like Zaitochi!

    Can’t wait to watch it!

    This movie can’t be bloody…the most bloodiest movie ever made or ever to be made is Meat Grinder!
    CAUTION: Make sure you have the stomach to watch when you want to see the trailer on Youtube.
    It’s by far the most goriest movie ever made

  • Kage no Goddamn

    It’s not sick, it’s intelligent filmmaking.
    The real ZatoIchi, Katsu Shintaro, was anything but sick. But then maybe I’m not hip an sick means something else, like “cool” used to mean.
    If youy are talking about Kitano ichi , he just cribbed from the master Misumi Kenji. Nothing new, except the dance sequence…very different.
    But really, NINJA ASSASSIN is intelligent,honest, action packed cinema!!!!
    But mostly it’s COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • daisho2004

    It looks interesting because there really isn’t that much of a teaser trailer to go by!

  • Andryborry

    belloil film ma ì attore è nàmmerda

  • Andryborry

    no are you

  • http://www.facebook.com/loctaip Loc Pham

    Lub this FLIX: Hope they “make' more, neh?

    Though their “profit” was only: 20 million, I believe:

    It's “enough” to go: LESS “CG” and MORE: PracticaL: next time, though, neh?

    Seriously: Mind as weLL: go Fucking EPIXXXXXX & ADD: some “mythicaL” Beasts to “battle” as weLL, neh?

    Flying Creatures & Something like the “SammaeL” Creature from the FIRST: HELLBOY, neh?

    WHOOOOOOOO: Now that would WARRANT: CGI, neh?

    Plus: I luv this Movie's Training Sequences and SUCH!

    Yeupzzzzzz: Plus, Naomi ROXXXXXX, and Rain's English is “improving”

    I don't care for the “reaL” World Politics, but I LUV'd this FILM, neh?