‘Ninja Assassin,’ box office bomb in the making?

An official plot, the casting addition of veteran ninja movie star Sho Kosugi and several leaks from the Wachowski Brothers’ latest film, NINJA ASSASSIN have appeared online throughout June and so far nothing suggests this film will rise to escape the fate that met SPEED RACER, the Wachowski’s spin on a classic anime series that was widely panned by critics and quickly ran out of gas at the box office.

Leaks include production pics (originally posted and then removed from Slash Film), a German newsprint photo of a Volkswagen’s hood decimated by shuriken and a complete spoilerific breakdown of the film’s first scene. There is also word from Comic Book Resources in an interview with screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski that the film’s entire shooting script was rewritten from scratch in three days and only six weeks before production began.

Here’s the official plot released by Warner Bros.

NINJA ASSASSIN follows Raizo (Rain), 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.
This plot reads like a cross between THE BOURNE IDENTITY and CRYING FREEMAN. It could work adequately as a genre film although nothing suggests anything new or cleverly retooled.

Casting Rain, a Korean pop star with no substantial background in martial arts, stunt acting or dramatic acting as a Japanese ninja and “one of the deadliest assassins in the world” is a big stretch that is only widened by an image of Rain spending precious training time bulking and toning up for the role with help from the same trainers who were responsible the beefcake bods in 300. Apparently, being a top assassin in today’s world requires the looks of a fashion model.

In all fairness, a lot of today’s martial arts stars are buffed up and not afraid to show it including Donnie Yen, Scott Adkins and Collin Chou. I’ll shut up after I’ve seen Rain do something more impressive than what he displayed in SPEED RACER. If nothing else, the Wachowskis should be able to exploit Rain’s new looks in Korea where he already has a large swooning fanbase. There may not be much hope for similar marketing strategies here in the U.S. where some knucklehead at People magazine mistook Karl Yune for Rain in a recent issue. At least they got the nationality right which is more than I can say for the title character of NINJA ASSASSIN.

In comments posted around the web, some folks seem to think that the addition of Sho Kosugi as a secret ninja clan leader gives NINJA ASSASSIN more legitimacy as a martial arts movie. Love of all things ninja-related aside, has anyone actually watched one of Kosugi’s movies as an adult in the last few years? Sho may have seemed positively badass to the average ten-year-old in the early 1980s when films like REVENGE OF THE NINJA were being released. Yet watch a movie like RAGE OF HONOR today and it’s hard to imagine, even by genre standards. But still, full respect goes to Sho for being a real Japanese martial artist and pioneer in American martial arts moviemaking. There wouldn’t be a resurgence of ninja movies today without him.

Fighting action is choreographed by Jon Valera, an experienced Hollywood stuntman in mainstream flicks like LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD and with a background in multiple martial arts including freestyle karate and Aikido. He hasn’t had a chance to prove himself as a fight choreographer yet. That will change soon with the additional upcoming release of THE TOURNAMENT starring Kelly Hu, Ving Rhames and Robert Carlyle.

What is going to be a challenge for the filmmakers is how to sell NINJA ASSASSIN beyond throwing lots of money around. The story lacks any hook. Initial pics released reveal no distinct visual style that usually accompanies a Wachowski movie. Warner Bros. may have felt the same way considering they requested their removal. On the flip side, this could mean that they are not truly representative of the movie at large.

Rain is unknown outside of Asia aside from a throwaway supporting role in SPEED RACER and so far has zero credibility with martial arts movie fans. Director James McTeigue’s initial entry V FOR VENDETTA was decent but its success relied heavily on unusually strong source material from a graphic novel series by writer Alan Moore and illustrator David Lloyd.

On top of all of this, the movie is likely to have an R-rating which always narrows audience turnout. Even so, SPEED RACER’s PG rating didn’t help that movie at all. With the Wachowski’s misfires on their MATRIX sequels as indication that they have gradually lost whatever directing magic led to THE MATRIX, it’s up to McTeigue to make NINJA ASSASSIN into something better than another Wachowski movie, which as of 2008 isn’t the selling point that it used to be.

By Mark Pollard • June 30, 2008

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