"Ninja Assassin" News and Reviews - SPOILERS

[Jan]

Not exactly what I'd like to post as the first review. From Variety:

Seemingly made to capitalize on a dubious CG innovation -- namely, the slicing of bodies in half by whizzing five-pointed stars -- "Ninja Assassin" has little else to recommend it, not even laughs. Working again with the Wachowski brothers as producers, director James McTeigue delivers a lower-brow, somewhat livelier work than the team's "V for Vendetta." But unless the viewer is easily delighted by ultraviolence for its own sake, this thinly plotted movie about a young ninja's revenge against his cruel trainers will disappoint. Warner Bros.' Nov. 25 release should nonetheless prove effective as holiday-season counterprogramming, at least in the short term.

Jan

[Jan]

There are a couple of clips from the movie here. Definitely spoilers if you follow the link.

Jan

[Jan]

JMS posted this on the newsgroup:

Found out today that there's a chance to win free tickets to a
preview screening of Ninja Assassin on the 19th in Washington State.
Info at:

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=38080

jms

NOTE: It's in Washington DC, not Washington state.

The usual spoilers if you follow the link.

Jan

[Dan Dassow]

New Video Interview: Ninja Assassin Director James McTeigue

http://www.firstshowing.net/2009/11/20/video-interview-ninja-assassin-director-james-mcteigue/

New Video Interview: Ninja Assassin Director James McTeigue

November 20, 2009
by Alex Billington
Duration 21:35

Note there is only one reference to JMS in the interview.
2:33 Joe Straczynski came in and did a polish for us.

[Dan Dassow]

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/weekendwarriornews.php?id=61120

Ninja Assassin (Warner Bros.)
Starring Rain, Naomie Harris, Ben Miles, Sho Kosugi, Rick Yun
Directed by James McTeigue (V For Vendetta); Written by Matthew Sand, J. Michael Straczynski (creator of "Babylon 5," Changeling, upcoming They Marched into Sunlight)
Genre: Action, Thriller
Rated R

Tagline: "Fear Not the Weapon but the Hand That Yields It"
Plot Summary: Trained as a ninja since childhood by the Ozunu Clan, Raizo (Rain) finds himself in opposition with his deadly former classmates after the execution of a good friend by his adversary Takeshi (Rick Yune). At the same time, a pair of Europol agents stationed in Berlin (Naomie Harris, Ben Miles) have found connections between a series of brutal murders that seem to point to a group of unstoppable ninja killers.

Interview with James McTeigue

Mini-Review: An ambitious and mostly faithful attempt at recreating the look and tone of Japanese manga and Asian martial arts films is marred by the fact that doing so involves equal parts action and exposition, and only one half of that equation lives up to the promise of the film's title. ...

[vakie]

AICN has a few reviews and articles up.

Capone seemed to like it:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/43203

Massawyrm didn't like it:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/43188

Mr. Beaks has an interview with McTeigue, and seemed to like the film too.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/43197

[vakie]

Review from screenrant:

http://screenrant.com/ninja-assassin-reviews-pauly-35629/

He liked the ninja action, and the ninja back story, but felt the Europol-plot didn't really make sense and should've been left out to just focus on the ninjas. So all the ninja stuff, good. Non-ninja stuff, bad.

[Dan Dassow]

Interview: James McTeigue, 'Ninja Assassin' (Part 1)
by Jette Kernion Nov 27th 2009 // 7:15PM

...

Cinematical: So how did you get involved in this project? How did Ninja Assassin get started?

James McTeigue: I think it got started from the love of the ninja genre, from a) when I was a child, b) standing around on sets with the 87 Eleven guys -- the action choreographers -- and the Wachowskis, and we would always end up talking about films we wanted to do, genres we wanted to remake. At one point we were talking about Enter the Dragon for awhile, but then we thought that maybe it was time to drag the ninja genre out of the drawer and give it the affectation of an "A" genre, and that's what we did, that's where it germinated.

And then we put a writer onto it, Matthew Sand, he did a draft, and we worked on it for awhile, then we brought Joe Straczynski in to do a polish for us.

...

Cinematical: Do you have any interest in writing scripts for the movies you direct?

James McTeigue: There are a lot of really good writers out there, and I think ultimately when you get a script, you give it your own input anyway. You think this character will need work, you want to refine the aesthetic a little more, so there's always something you bring to the script. Personally, I don't feel lke I need to be the one writing the words. I much prefer to direct, and I think that's my strength. And I know a lot of good writers -- Joe Straczynski being one, Larry and Andy Wachowski being amazing writers, and I think I'm happy to let those kind of people write. At the moment, I have a lot of really good scripts that are coming across the table. There are things I want to say, obviously, but I try to feed them into the films that I do.

...

[Jan]

A joint interview with JMS (called Michael here) and Matthew Sand:

http://filmreviewonline.com/2009/11/28/ninja-assassin-writers-j-michael-straczynski-and-matthew-sand/

My favorite part:

Q: Are you hoping there might be a sequel?
Michael : Yes, Ninja 8: IÆm Still Pissed.

[vakie]

"Ask a Ninja" reviews Ninja Assassin.

http://www.firstshowing.net/2009/11/29/watch-this-ask-a-ninjas-hilarious-review-of-ninja-assassin/

[Dan Dassow]

"Ask a Ninja" reviews Ninja Assassin.

http://www.firstshowing.net/2009/11/...inja-assassin/

The "Ask a Ninja" Ninja has sort of a Zathras vibe.

Here it the direct YouTube link with many more "Ask a Ninja" videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLJFzzQCWBQ

[pathumalla]

Rain go hard at it

unless Rain it could be piece of nut. most of the movie fans did love to see him on this movie and it was the only success i saw in the movie. impressive plot it was from the director but not enough adventure. all though good encounters of marshal arts what have favors the most of audience too..

source

[SmileOfTheShadow]

I really enjoyed the movie. The gore was over the top, the directing was pretty fun and some of it was downright silly like a ninja movie should be. JMS did that beginning and ending tying together with an obvious metaphor which he always does which makes me laugh for sure because I love it.

I liked it better than Kill Bill I think

[frulad]

I know it didn't have a huge budget, but I think that they could have afforded to hire someone to light the set...

[Spoo Junky]

Alfred Hitchcock used to make a cameo in all his films. I think JMS's "cameo" are lines used in B5. "Never start a fight, but always finish it" for Changeling, and "after a fashion" for Ninja Assassin.