Ninja Assassin [2 Discs] [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray/DVD]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

V for Vendetta director James McTeigue re-teams with that film's producers Larry and Andy Wachowski for this action-packed tale of a skilled assassin who was trained by a mythical secret society, and patiently awaits the day he will avenge the death of his best friend. Swept off the streets as a young boy, Raizo (Korean pop star Rain) is transformed into an unstoppable killing machine by a secret society known as the Ozunu Clan. The Ozunu Clan is so proficient at keeping their existence a secret that most people think they are only a myth, but the moment Ozuno assassins kill Raizo's friend, their days in the shadows are numbered. In the aftermath of that killing, Raizo stages a daring escape, subsequently biding his time until the day he can take the entire Ozunu Clan down.

Later, in Berlin, Europol agent Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris) discovers a money trail connecting multiple political murders to a mysterious network of elusive assassins from the Far East. While her superior Ryan Maslow (Ben Miles) orders Mika to back down and stop asking questions, she stealthily begins searching through classified agency files on a relentless mission to discover the truth about the murders. Singled out as a target as a direct result of her investigation, Mika is marked for death by lethal Ozunu assassin Takeshi (Rick Yune). Just as Mika is about to be silenced forever, Raizo saves her from certain death. But Raizo knows that Takeshi and the rest of the Ozuno Clan won't stop until he and Mika are both dead. Now, as Raizo and Mika are hunted through the winding streets of Europe, their only hope for survival is to trust one another and stay alive long enough to bring the Ozunu empire crumbling to the ground. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
• Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Features:
  • The myth and legend of ninjas
  • The extreme sport of a ninja
  • Training rain
  • Additional scenes

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Rain - Raizo
       Naomie Harris - Mika
       Ben Miles - Maslow
       Rick Yune - Takeshi
       Sho Kosugi - Lord Ozunu
       Guido Foehrweisser - Europol Agent
       Stephen Marcus - Kingpin
       Vladimir Tarasjanz - Aleksei Sabatin
       Randall Duk Kim - Tattoo Master
       Kang Sung - Hollywood
       Jonathan Chan - Pensley - Yakuza Henchman
       Ill - Young Kim - Yakuza Mohawk
       Yuki Iwamoto - Yakuza Couch
       Linh - Dan Pham - Pretty Ninja
       Yu Fang - Laundromat Manager
       Adriana Altaras - Landlady
       Kylie Liya Goldstein - Young Kiriko
       Sungwoong Yoon - Young Raizo
       Eleonore Weisgerber - Mrs. Sabatin
       Joon Lee - Teenage Raizo
       Kai Fung Rieck - Teenage Takeshi
       Anna Sawai - Teenage Kiriko
       Thorston Manderlay - Zabranski
       Richard Van Weyden - Battuta
       Mina Ghousi - Kid with Envelope
       Hans Hohlbein - Mika's Neighbor
       Nhi Ngoc Nguyen - Hermann - Girl on Roof
       Tim Williams - Europol Cell Guard
       David Leitch - Europol Door Guard
       Wolfgang Stegemann - Europol Pointman
       Steffen Groth - Europol Guard
       Jens Neuhaus - Europol Guard
       Patrick Pinheiro - Maslow's Aide
       Matthias Schendel - Task Force Agent
       Johannes Ahn - Medic

• Director:

  James McTeigue

• Producer:

  Joel Silver, Grant Hill, Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski

• Screenwriter:

  J. Michael Straczynski, Matthew Sand

• Screen Story:

  Matthew Sand

• Cinematographer:

  Karl Walter Lindenlaub

• Composer (Music Score):

  Ilan Eshkeri

• Editor:

  Giancarlo Ganziano, Joseph Jett Sally

• Production Designer:

  Graham "Grace" Walker

• Supervising Art Director:

  Sebastian Krawinkel

• Art Director:

  Stephan O. Gessler, Marco Bittner-Rosser

• Co-producer:

  Henning Molfenter, Jessica Alan, Roberto Malerba, Carl L. Woebcken, Christoph Fisser

• Executive Producer:

  William Fay, Jon Jashni, Thomas Tull, Steve Richards

• Costume Designer:

  Carlo Poggioli

• Makeup:

  Jeremy Woodhead, Margot Redmann, Pascal Herr, Susanne Kasper

• First Assistant Director:

  Terry Needham

• Casting:

  Lucinda Syson

• Sound Mixer:

  Ivan Sharrock

• Second Unit Director:

  Chad Stahelski, David Leitch

• Fights Choreographer:

  Peng Zhang, Jon Valera

• Second Unit Director Of Photogra:

  Harvey Harrison

• Stunts Coordinator:

  Noon Orsatti

• Unit Production Manager:

  Grant Hill

• Script Supervisor:

  Annie Penn

• Visual Effects Supervisor:

  Dan Glass

• Production Coordinator:

  Damian Anderson

• Second Assistant Director:

  Emma Horton

• Hair Styles:

  Jeremy Woodhead

• Stunts Coordinator:

  Chad Stahelski

• Unit Production Manager:

  Roberto Malerba

• Line Producer:

  Marcus Loges

• Costumes Supervisor:

  Serena Fiumi

REVIEW:

• Ninja Assassin isn't the kind of movie that you compare to other movies. You compare it to a 2-lb. bacon sandwich with a bomb inside. You compare it to a magical gas-powered modified AK-47 that shoots live bears that are also on fire. And, okay, if you really want, you can compare it to B-level kung fu fare, or to other stuff that's been inspired by those movies, like Kill Bill. No, Ninja Assassin isn't exactly a Tarantino-level masterpiece, but it's still a rollicking good time for anybody interested in gratuitous fight sequences, the gratuitous severing of limbs, and the resulting gratuitous geysers of blood. And, honestly, who goes into a movie called Ninja Assassin expecting anything else?
  
  The story centers on Raizo (played by impossibly pretty Korean pop star Rain), a defector from a brutal Spartan-esque school of ninja badassery, where he trained to be an assassin from childhood. It would seem that, after mastering the skills to fight an adversary blindfolded, will his body to heal its own wounds, and take down multiple attackers with what looks like a knife on the end of a wallet chain, Raizo realized that the sensei who ran his school was just using him for his own evil ends -- namely, profit. Meanwhile, intrepid Interpol investigator Mika (Naomie Harris) starts sniffing around the clandestine ninja association's track record and unwittingly makes herself a target. So, naturally, because he shares her desire to bring the organization down (and maybe because she reminds him of the weirdly compassionate girl who once trained with him to be a hired killer), he rescues her from vivisection and the two team up.
  
  Ninja Assassin can be oddly earnest at times, but don't let that fool you -- this movie is a tribute. Between guys getting riddled with throwing stars as if they were buckshot and a showdown that boils down to ninjas vs. automatic weapons, it's pretty clear that director James McTeigue wanted to have a little fun. And while it can lack humor, we can't say it lacks depth because it's not supposed to have any. It's actually kind of a cool idea to take a generic martial-arts action script -- complete with epic training montages and people from other countries whose native tongue is to speak English with a foreign accent -- and see how far you can get on a modest budget, with CG offering so many more possibilities than the old days. You certainly can't fault the filmmakers for trying, and lucky for us, it turns out it was a worthwhile experiment. ~ Cammila Albertson, Rovi