NINJA ASSASSIN Post Release - Page 2

I find it interesting that people are wondering "what happened" with James McTeigue's directing skill and giving tons of credit to the Wachowski brothers.

One name: Yuen Wo Ping.

He did more than just choreograph the fights in the Matrix. I suspect that in the sequels he had less control on the direction of them though, but still it really surprises me that people don't mention him at all here as the factor of why the quality was so different then compared to now.

What else did Yuen Wo Ping do on The Matrix?

Didn't he also help block the fight scenes?

I always figured blocking the fight scenes was a huge part of choreographic them.

Is it? I kinda view them as what the fight actually is (i.e. the actual moves) and how the fight is shot.

Anyway, that's what I figure that The Running Man meant.

Yea, I'm not sure about what I said either. I just kinda figured that choreography for fight scenes need to keep blocking/camerwork in mind in order to make sure their work plays for the angle. All in collaboration with the director, of course.

Aside from the choreography, Yuen Wo Ping more or less directed the major fight scenes in the first Matrix film. There was a special feature on the Matrix documentary for the first film that showed the test footage Yuen Wo Ping shot with his team on the major fight scenes of the movie. Most of those shots were used in the final version of the fight scenes.

Also, since I am quite familiar with his visual style, the first Matrix film has a lot of his feel. Particularly being able to show a lot of power through the techniques. The sequels offered a lot less of that which says to me the Wachowski brothers felt more confident and stepped in to design the shots. A mistake in my opinion since the fight scenes in the sequels weren't as good as the first movie.

Definitely agree with you about the differences between the fight scenes between the first film and the other two.

That, and the fight scenes in the sequels incorporated too much CG doubles whereas the first film didn't really do that at all.

Also didn't help that nearly all of the fight sequences in the sequels were dramatically inert.

I will fight you for ten minutes. Ok we done? I fly away now. Bai

Exactly. And now among the complaints about Ninja Assassin is that the CGI in the action scenes distract too much from the experience. Doesn't surprise me.

And that's what the Ong Bak films and crew seem to understand. It's all about the old-school, awe-inspiring one long take choreographies.

You know what? I wouldn't mind seeing some modern updates of Shaw Bros classics like 8 DIAGRAM POLE FIGHTER just so I could compare the state of modern martial arts flicks to the traditional ones. Shit, you know they'd just CGI that pole in there...

Not sure about the pole - but all the flying teeth, most def.

Ninja Assassin is...excellent. I loved everything about the film. It is now my...#3 film of 2009! The training sequences are terrific, the action is breathtaking, and Sho Kosugi makes for a diabolically...EEEEEEEEEEEEEvil villain. I hope that Rain makes more...Ninja films. Maybe he could star in a live action...Ninja Scroll. I rate this film 5 throwing stars out of...5!

I quite enjoyed it, though I wish they would have beefed up the final fight scenes. I was hoping a screen door would open up behind Raizo or something and out comes more ninjas. The action scenes taking place at night in mostly dimly lit places made sense since that's when they come out to play, but I think the Gladiator/Saving Private Ryan camerawork during some of the fights made it less decipherable.

I wish they would've given the laundromat ninja more screen time. Daddy likes. Though I was instantly reminded of Chappelle's Show Season 2. And SHO KOSUGI, bitches. When he does his hand sign thingy I was geeking out slightly. I was hoping he would say his signature "Only a ninja can kill a ninja", but alas.

Rick Yune and Sung Kang are what you can get w/ a decent budget for roles tailor-made for Al Leong and Yuji Okumoto, I guess. Rain was good, too. If for shits and giggles they decide to go full Asian for Eric Draven in the CROW reboot, I think he'd be a nice fit.

Besides the Batman Begins influence (and flashier fight choreography), you'd never know this wasn't an '80s movie.

I think I liked this movie. Rain is good. Sho is good. The action works when you can see it. The cg blood didn't bother me.
It has two nagging problems, though.

1.) Too much time spent with EUROPOL or whatever. The scenes with these people aren't horrible, but they're so unecessary. It's like McTeigue and co. were afraid to completely focus on the silly ninjas.

2.) The lighting. It's true that McTeigue isn't in love with wide shots, but I didn't have a problem with the way the fights were shot and edited. Unfortunately, a bunch of the action scenes are way too dark. Now I know Ninjas operate in darkness, but this is supposed to be a martial arts action movie. Get creative with the lighting and let people see all of the fast paced choreography and stuntwork that you spent months on.

Oh and make no mistake! Scott Adkins' NINJA is better.

It's out? When? Where?

You know what I expect when I go see a movie called Ninja Assassin. Ninjas. Assassinating people. You know what I don't expect...EUROPOL! Fucking a, that dragged this down.

Enjoyable at the time, forgettable. But Rain is pretty awesome. I need to track down his Asian work, so I can see him whooping ass with a little less CG.

To the best of my knowledge, I don't think Rain's actually been in much action-packed stuff back in Korea if any.

Other than the film he did with Park Chan Wook (I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK), I think he's mostly focused on being a pop-star and acting in soaps.

Saw this today and really liked it.The CG pulls you out of the fights from time to time but overall very fun movie.

I don't think Rain had done any kind of martial arts before this movie, so he deserves a lot of credit.
It looked like he knew what he was doing.

Well, then I am mistaken. Hell of a presence for it and yeah, he can move. I never suspected a double in any of the scenes, and I hope I'm right. Now why can't the women be swooning over him...at least he's of age, ladies!

The dance experience he's had as a pop star probably helped a lot with the choreography he had to learn for the fight scenes.

I wasn't able to fully enjoy the fight sequences due to some of the editing, but Rain seemed competent enough. I was surprised they showcased very little of Kosugi, but I suppose the guy is getting up there in years.

Still, I didn't find the movie impressive (violent, but not impressive) so much as I found it simply fun. I haven't seen a good ninja flick come out in nearly 20 years.

I'm thinking that at some point there was a version of the script that indulged all the silly ninja magic.

Was super excited to catch this on Sunday with a group of my friends in the UK to find out it's not going to be released until 8th January 2010
Very disappointed, was looking forward to being able to compare and contrast with "Ninja", I thought the days of delaying the releases of big budget action pics were long were over.

I liked the superhuman ninja stuff. At first I thought maybe Sho was conning the kids, but then Rain heals giant gashes with his ninja powers.

I wonder what the Wachowski's wanted changed when they hired Straczynski. If they had him add more EUROPOL stuff, ughch.

This seems to be a thing with McTeague, like how V For Vendetta spent way too much time with the cop.

I thought the stuff with the cop in V for Vendetta was alright. Though I haven't really revisited that movie much.

Naomi Harris and that other guy have way too much screen time, but overall the movie focuses on ninjas and tragic ninja flashbacks.

EUROPOL's only good moment was at the end when they bust onto the scene with hummers, guns and a bunch of lights. Wasn't the dojo on the edge of a cliff or something? MAGIC HUMMERS!

So Ninjas have Wolverine type healing abilities, can move at lightspeed and fall off 60 story buildings without a scratch?

And why did he do that "Let myself get captured" plan. Couldn't he just have told Naomi Harris and the EUROPOL gang on where the Super Hush Hush Secret Ninja camp was?

The graphic novel spends a lot of time with the cop too. Probably more than in the film.

Felix, Raizo was caught unaware by Europol, and he didn't want to imperil Mika. Remember he told Mika, that she only lied to him about her...waist size. Ninja Assassin is very similar to the plot of UDON's Street Fighter comics, which are excellent.

I liked that they were SUPERHUMAN. There should have been more of that.

Probably because he didn't know where it was located.

I don't have the graphic novel on hand to check, but I really don't think this is right. For most of the movie, literally every second scene is with the cop. It's mostly highly unmemorable stuff, which may be why you're not remembering it, but after a second watching it was clear the guy gets waaaaaaay too much screentime.

I also believe you are wrong. The cop is very present in the graphic novel. And like his scenes in the film.

Didn't he spend his entire childhood being trained there?

Yes.
He was trained by people who kidnapped kids and killed them if they tried to climb the wall and leave. Didn't they seem a bit secretive to you?

"My heart is over heeeeeeere!!!"

Pfft. hahahahaha. I'm pretty dense when it comes to seeing moments like that coming. Especially if I'm really into the movie. Not so here. I was literally thinking, "Well her heart is on the other side, of course. But what thematic meaning would that have? What's the point of linking her to the Keymaker slashed at the beginning of the movie!? Hmmm!?"

I overthought it, obviously.

Thanks to Devin's review and this thread, I went in with low enough expectations to enjoy it. Kinda. I just saw a lot of wasted potential. A lot of stuff that was clearly designed to get a rise out of me, but didn't. This wasn't Punisher: War Zone. Not even close.

Ditto on the criticism of the action. What's with all the cutting? Even a shot that seems clearly fated to be seen in a single wide shot (Rain vs. Sho's silhouettes behind the screen door) were cut with close-ups!? Why!? They were silhouettes! You could've gotten anyone to do those moves. It would've been striking to see all that action with the blood splashing on the paper doors. Even the Wachowskis knew to tone down the cutting for a similar moment in the Dragonball fight between Neo and Smith when they were basically in silhouette.

Such a waste. Because Rain was actually pretty badass.

For some reason, I don't mind this despite the glaring flaws. I found it to be stupid and fun, sorta like G.I. Joe, but more my style. Yeah, the writer's really were slumming (wtf is adelicate lotus blossom like her doing in a ninja clan anyways!?) And the Europol stuff was a snoozer, but I didn't mind all the cg blood and the overreliance on close-ups. I really do have a weakness for martial arts movies. Good thing the pre-credit sequence works so well because it needed it.

To copy and paste from the B-movie action thread:

I agree, going in with lowered expectations did help out. It's just a popcorn movie to watch, nothing more and nothing less. It could've been pretty awesome, I agree, and I wish it would've been, but what we got was still fun.

I got tired of Sho Kusugi repeating his "You have shamed me" line over and over again. It seems that he has only 3-4 lines of dialogue and he just restates it to make it seem longer.

Didn't guess that Laundry girl was a Ninja. I thought she was going to be the obligatory love interest. Instead she became part of the laundry wash.

This is the way I prefer my fight scenes.

Those lines as delivered by Sho seemed like a definite "fuck you" to Kane Kosugi, who he called out in the Japanese media as a "traitor" some years ago when he turned his back on the family academy (along w/ some key members) to focus on acting full time.

Especially when you see him with his blind eye, I kept thinking, "We have GOT to get him and Sylvia Ganush together. They have so much in common."

Tragic!
They'll make up when Sho is reminded of those sweet, innocent pink sweater/lunchbox days.

I dug this in all it's empty, fake-blood, Throwing-Star-Porn glory. It's a total 8th-grade boy movie, but I enjoyed it. The EUROPOL stuff didn't drag for me; I actually thought it was fairly balanced between that and the mayhem. A fun matinee movie.

I'm positive I enjoyed this mostly because I saw it with my parents, who have become less and less discriminating in their retirement (their Netflix queue's a hoot). Dad was in the mood to see some trashy violence with me as an excuse, and Mom was prepared to ditch us and see The Blind Side but it was sold out.

Cheap CGI or not, that was by far the most blood spilled I've ever watched in the company of the folks. The opening scene? Dad was visibly embarrassed on one side of me, and Mom was snickering her head off on the other. Dad got over the huge check of chick flicks he'd written for himself, and Mom whispered me at one point "Are they all this ridiculous now?" Explaining that she's fine when there's so much violence it's silly (though not her cup of tea), she just can't stand violence AND armrest-gripping tension and suspense.

Which, yeah, was totally absent. Thanks to food coma, I genuinely nodded off sometime during the first Europol business (a lunch meeting? Flirting? Really?) and came to near the end of an inexplicable fight in an unlit room. Turns out there were a few more to come, so I didn't feel bad about missing that one. But, yeah, if I didn't have a pair of 70-plus-year-olds snickering next to me don't think I'd have dug the experience as much as I did.

First thing Pop said after: "I guess there's eight clans to go. Sequel!"

This flick played like a more expensive, higher pedigree version of Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, only without any camp value.

Young Kane and I shared the same hair stylist. And the same unbridled "I don't care who catches me staring" attitude when it comes to primo boobage.

I forgot about Grandma Ninja who died so valiantly.