Ninja Assassin
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | James McTeigue |
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| Story by | Matthew Sand |
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| Music by | Ilan Eshkeri |
| Cinematography | Karl Walter Lindenlaub |
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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98 minutes |
| Country | United States Germany |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $40 million |
| Box office | $61.6 million |
Ninja Assassin is a 2009 German-American neo-noir martial arts thriller film directed by James McTeigue. The story was written by Matthew Sand, with a screenplay by J. Michael Straczynski. The film stars South Korean pop musician Rain as a disillusioned assassin looking for retribution against his former mentor, played by ninja film legend Sho Kosugi. Ninja Assassin explores political corruption, child endangerment and the impact of violence. Known for their previous work on the Matrix Trilogy and V for Vendetta, Lana and Lilly Wachowski, Joel Silver, and Grant Hill produced the film. A collective effort to commit to the film's production was made by Legendary Pictures, Dark Castle Entertainment and Silver Pictures. It was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Ninja Assassin premiered in theaters across the United States on November 25, 2009. Its box office gross was $61,590,252, of which $38,122,883 was from North America. The film's budget was $40 million.
The Ozunu Clan, led by the ruthless Lord Ozunu (Sho Kosugi), trains orphans from around the world to become the ultimate ninja assassins. One of these orphans, Raizo (Rain), was forced to train as an assassin for the clan. The training was both brutal and hard especially for him because he was to be the next successor of the clan. The only kindness he was ever shown was from a young kunoichi named Kiriko, with whom he eventually develops a romantic bond. As time goes on, Kiriko becomes disenchanted with the Ozunu's routine and wishes to abandon it for freedom. One rainy night, Kiriko decides to make her escape and encourages Raizo to join her; however he decides to stay. Branded as a traitor, Kiriko was caught and later executed in front of Raizo by their elder ninja brother Takeshi, impaling her through the heart. As a result of Kiriko's death, Raizo begins to harbor resentment and doubt towards the Ozunu. Kiriko's death opens his eyes and he begins to see faults within the clan and sees that what he's been taught to do wasn't right. Some time later, Raizo is instructed by Lord Ozunu to complete his first assassination. Afterwards, Raizo meets the rest of his clan atop a city skyscraper in Berlin. There he is instructed by Lord Ozunu to execute another kunoichi traitor like Kiriko. Uponn remembering Kiriko's death and finally having had enough, Raizo cracks. He rebels against Lord Ozunu by cutting his face with a kyoketsu-shoge and engages in combat against his fellow ninja kin. Barely surviving, he falls off the roof of the skyscraper and into a river. For the years that are to come, Raizo recovers and trains on his own to intervene and foil all of Ozunu's assassination attempts in hopes of bringing down the clan that took everything from him.
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