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‘Ninja Assassin,’ box office bomb in the making?
By Mark Pollard • June 30, 2008
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.
标题：“忍者此刻”，拍摄时就已注定是票房ZHA 弹？
说六月份忍者剧情泄露，种种迹象表明忍者逃不过和SR一样票房惨败地命运。
泄露包括剧照；COMIC BOOK RESOURCES这杂志访问编剧J.Mecheal的时候，得知剧本竟然是在开拍前6周，仅用了3天的时间由草稿改写而来的。
然后是来自华纳兄弟公司的官方剧情（我们之前都看过了，此处略哈）
这个剧情读起来像是THE BOURNE IDENTITY 和 CRYING FREEMAN这两部电影的混合。需要做大量工作来树立这部片自己的风格。不过迹象表明，根本没什么新理念，也没什么改动。
启用RAIN主演，这个韩国明星没有一点儿功夫底子，演日本忍者，要么很蹩脚，要么很精彩。所谓“世上最致命的杀手”是个大大的吹牛（曲解）。这只是RAIN在300勇士体型教练的指导下，花大量时间塑身而造成的一个表象而已。显然~要成为当今世上顶尖杀手，得有时尚模特的样子才行的。
除非我看到RAIN呈现出比SR好的表现，否则我不会停止批驳他。如果没有更好表现，沃卓斯基兄弟还可以去韩国开发RAIN的市场，在那儿RAIN有坚实的粉丝基础。不过这种依靠粉丝的市场策略在美国行不通---在美国，时代杂志还把Karl Yune错当成RAIN了呢。
网上舆论认为，是SHO KOSUGI（演忍者头头）的加入才使得“忍者刺客”算是部功夫电影。
忍者的武术编排是JON VALERA，他是好莱坞资深特技演员，不过却没有编排武打动作的经验。
制片人怎么把忍者卖出去是个大问题。现在看到的照片里，没有沃氏电影一贯的独特视觉风格。
RAIN在亚洲之外没有任何知名度。除了在SR里演了个路人甲的角色外，至今他还没有任何属于他的功夫电影FANS。导演James McTeigue的“V字仇杀队”的成功更多的是依靠不同寻常的故事情节。
还有，这电影很可能会有级别限制，这会使观众范围变小。不过尽管如此，SR的PG等级也没给电影票房帮上什么忙。沃氏在黑客之后有点江郎才尽，就靠James McTeigue把这片子拍好点儿了~
转自心灵自雨吧
翻译: HCRAIN |
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发表于 2008-7-2 16:08
