[UPDATE: The trailer is now available in HD at this link.]
MTV Movies Blog has debuted the trailer for the Joel Silver & Wachowski Brothers produced Ninja Assassin. I must admit that I was doubtful of K-popstar Rain playing as the world's deadliest ninja at first but after watching this, he made a true believer in me. This looks so damn cool!
Raizo (Rain) is one of the deadliest assassins in the world. Taken from the streets as a child, he was transformed into a trained killer by the Ozunu Clan, a secret society whose very existence is considered a myth. But haunted by the merciless execution of his friend by the Clan, Raizo breaks free from them...and vanishes.Now he waits, preparing to exact his revenge. In Berlin, Europol agent Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris) has stumbled upon a money trail linking several political murders to an underground network of untraceable assassins from the Far East. Defying the orders of her superior, Ryan Maslow (Ben Miles), Mika digs into top secret agency files to learn the truth behind the murders. Her investigation makes her a target, and the Ozunu Clan sends a team of killers, led by the lethal Takeshi (Rick Yune), to silence her forever. Raizo saves Mika from her attackers, but he knows that the Clan will not rest until they are both eliminated.
Now, entangled in a deadly game of cat and mouse through the streets of Europe, Raizo and Mika must trust one another if they hope to survive...and finally bring down the elusive Ozunu Clan.
The release date is on November 25th. You'll find the trailer embedded below after the break.
I have an idea lets take all the Japanese people out of a movie that should be Japanese! (Wait thats what this is...) The Godfrey Ho comment fits sadly :(
Yeah, I have to admit I'm not that impressed. I have no problem with Rain - nice to see him land a lead role in the West and he certainly seems to have worked for it - but there's nothing in that trailer to make me think this is going to be anything beyond some brainless 80s throwback.
And yes, the poster is kind of half-assed at best, suspicious at worst.
Behind the scenes footage was very promising, but that was a horrible trailer. Not looking good at this point :(
I think the Wachowskis have been playing a lot of Ninja Gaiden 2. I'm ok with that.
Any doubts I had about Rain's abilities were put to rest when that awesome training reel came out, but this trailer is so dark and blurry that it is a lot less satisfying than the reel was. I fully expect the final product to be a satisfying spectacle of shiny martial arts violence, just a little worried the editing might lose some of the magic of choreography.
And totally agree re: the poster... who is that, nicolas cage?
Wachowskis are producing it, but who is the actual film maker?
I found the ninja weapon (bullet) time stuff boring - there is not a lot in the trailer that has me looking forward to the movie, though the R rating gives me hope.
needs more choreography and less cg fights
"...asians talking in english in their own hometowns? Fucking idiotic, good work Hollywood."
It's not Hollywood... it's the audience. You think people in North America (the general public) want to watch a subtitled movie? Or even read any subtitles in any part of a movie even if it's one sentence?
Footage is promising, and this is coming from someone who is not a Wachowski/McTeigue at all, but good lord that trailer was laughable... Is this a 1985 release from Canon?
Side thought: Is McTeigue too high and mighty to direct the upcoming live-action TMNT flick?
I'm not impressed. Not even a little.
CGI is really not very interesting, even if Ninja's a cool.
Way too much CGI in that trailer.
I have to agree with the terrible CG thing. And since that is pretty much all this trailer gives us I will hold off further judgment.
The official website is a joke, in case anyone was wondering. The only image that isn't a year old is the shitty new poster. Want to know who's in the film, or who made it? You can click on the poster and then click on the poster again and attempt to decipher the grey on white text. There's no other mention of anyone's name associated with the film. And while they went to the trouble of animating the poster's image as the website loads - you can still forget about seeing the lead actor's eyes there or anywhere else other than the trailer - and they keep it to a minimum there as well.
This is getting deliberately buried. Look for the release date to come and go without a trace.
Did I just see a Ninja getting sideswiped by a car? And was it Rick Yune about to deal the death blow to Rain?
Hmm, not impressed. Was a blockbuster that could've been something great, but the overuse of CG effects and general naff..ness just doesn't bode well.
Wait, they really cut the guys face out in that poster. Ohh, it's too asian. Poor hollywood, you are too afraid of new steps. No wonder, your remake-amokrun has no end in sight.
Yawn.
I wish any Asian actor better than this.
They didn't even hook her up with a white girl!
This looks pretty badass to me... 80's ninja movie was the shiznit...
I just noticed that this was from MTV. Explains a lot.
You only have to look back on basic psychology to know that if you treat people like they are idiots, you are only fostering the idea. Start treating people like intelligent beings (using subtitles, avoiding stereotyping, creating intelligent fight choreography, story, etc etc) and people will develop.
Alas, it shall never come to pass.
The trouble is that the audience card is pulled way too often as a valid reason for things like "not using subtitles".
If the reasons were valid I might understand it, but there are plenty of counterarguments that a movie's success does not need to be harmed by subtitles.
It was the same with length back in the Eighties. "You can't make a movie longer than 130 minutes, you'll lose that extra screening in the evening and the film can no longer be economically viable". This gave us a vastly shorter "Aliens" (which wasn't too bad actually, I like both versions equally) and a vastly shorter "The Abyss" (which DID get hurt in the process, no question about it).
Then suddenly Kevin Costner makes "Dances With Wolves" which becomes a huuuuge success, and suddenly "short length" is dropped as commercial requirement! In fact, an even LONGER version got released, and for a while it seemed every movie worth talking about started to exceed two-and-a-half hours.
Unfortunately "Dances With Wolves" didn't perform the same trick with subtitles...
And ten years ago we had the runaway success of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", which pulled the majority of its US box office from subbed-not-dubbed copies of the film.
So while subtitles may indeed be a (small) factor, I still get riled whenever the great invisible "audience" is mentioned as a reason for not using correct languages.
Not that I'm saying they should have used actual Asian languages for "Ninja Assassin". It's an American movie after all, so the choice is theirs. But if you include Asian sequences in it, I'd think the creators would like those to be like... you know? EXOTIC maybe?
And using local languages can get you a long way towards that goal, is all I'm saying.
Not that they are 'GREAT FILMS' but Life is Beautiful, Amelie and Passion of the Christ/Apocalypto all made bank at the US Box Office in wide releases with subtitles.
Too bad nobody can launch a Japanese, South Korean or Non-French/Italian Euro-cinema into the American Mainstream.....Stuff like THE ALZHEIMER CASE, KONTROLL, SHINOBI, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, RUN LOLA RUN, THE HOST and ADAMS APPLES should have made much bigger $$$ theatrically.
ah, I liked the trailer. Looking forward to it. And, read that they screened it last night at comicon.
Hrmm, looks like a Japanese version of Batman Begins, replace Batman with "Ninja" and tada!
"Yeah, i’m on full snob mode here, and i don’t care."
If anything, the snob are those who won't accept subtitles. Its really a shame the majority of people don't see the subtle beauty of the spoken dialogue in a different language other than English. You may get the meaning through dubbing but it may not fully replicate the distinct quality and the way its express when its being deliver originally. For the most part, my philosophy is whenever a foreign culture is introduce in a Hollywood film, the authenticity shouldn't be compromised for the sake of the audience convenience but rather its up to the audience to have an open mind. In a perfect world, subtitles shouldn't be an issue.
The trailer looks pretty good, I guess people were expecting a little too much? I love action movies, and action/kungfu movies, and this trailer shows something similar to a live action anime, but dont right lol. So much chaos in the trailer, yet you can still see everything happening and it looks damn cool! I will def watch this in the theatres!
I simply can't see what's wrong with this trailer that everyone here is spouting so much hate for it. There is no CGI fighting, it's all wire fu with CGI enhancement, throwing stars and weapons mostly swinging towards the camera for an added effect.
Nothing in this is any different than any of the stuff that's coming out of HK or Japan and they've started to use CGI quite heavily, Dragon, Tiger Gate anyone?
Horrible trailer.
I have nothing against CGI but only if it's invisible or integral to the story. I don't want it smacking me in the face. John Gaeta and friends did a fine job with the Matrix. It fit the story but using the same hammer in the wrong context and it sticks out like a nail. :p
Hopefully, it's only the trailer showing scenes with the worst offenders.
Don't know what you all on about. This looks great. Wait till you watch the whole film. Remember the trailer was made for American audience. The same country that put the whole world in a recession ;-)
The first critic to cite The Matrix when writing their review gets hoofed in the wedding tackle and catapulted into the sun!
Right, voting on the internet. Because that shows the quality of his acting skills?
I mean he was that popular already. He is a super star in Asia and I'm sure Ninja Assassin will make him successful in america too.
Hey this looks like an awesome video game, can't wait to play it...
Wait, it's a movie? You're shitting me...