Ninja: Shadow of a Tear (2013) - Scott Adkins and Kane Kosugi

[chanbara]

Isaac Florentine and Scott Adkins Reunite for NINJA 2

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/ABERRATION/news/?a=68448

When I first heard that they were planning a sequel to Ninja (2009), I wasn't too enthused to say the least. Other than the opening dojo scenes and Mika Hijji's subway fight, I thought everything else from the rehashed American Ninja/American Samurai storyline, the magic potion inside the sword handle, the supposedly old but really new looking sci-fi ninja suits, and the laughable flying squirel rooftop scene, etc... was lame. And the acting was almost uniformally wooden and terrible from everyone involved (Mika Hijii excluded).

But now that Kane Kosugi, son of the legendary master ninja himself Sho Kosugi, has been cast as the "bad guy ninja", things are most definitely looking up. The linked article above doesn't mention Kane's involvement, but it's confirmed on Kane's official website (http://www.kanekosugi.com/whatsnew/index.html). His character's name is Nakabara. Considering their martial arts skills, the fights between Scott and Kane should be something to see. IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2458106/) also lists Mika Hijii (the best part of the first film IMHO) in the cast, so that's another plus. Hopefully they've got a better storyline and better production values this time around too. Keeping my fingers crossed...

[ToryK]

I didn't love the first one either, but Kane's involvement is definitely a good sign. Hopefully, they'll let the two go all-out. Thanks for the news!

[ShaOW!linDude]

What!?!

Sweet!!!

Can't wait for this! Hope they go back to the more classical ninja garb. And I hope there will be a showcase of weaponry.

[AlbertV]

If anyone can highlight Kane's talents, it is Isaac. Look at what he did for Scott in SPECIAL FORCES after he was practically wasted in Hong Kong.

I can't wait to see a Adkins-Kosugi match....it's a dream come true!

[Drunken Monk]

What is a good film to start with when trying to get an idea of Kane Kosugi's talents? I don't think I've ever seen a film of his.

[chanbara]

What is a good film to start with when trying to get an idea of Kane Kosugi's talents? I don't think I've ever seen a film of his.

You can't go wrong with BLOOD HEAT (2002) or COWEB (2009).

Or these:

GODZILLA FINAL WARS (2004)

DOA DEAD OR ALIVE (2006)

WAR (2007)

TIMELESS (2009)

This video chronicles his action career (along with brother Shane) and features scenes from each of these films and much more:

kva2F11d5Hw

[Drunken Monk]

You can't go wrong with BLOOD HEAT (2002) or COWEB (2009).

Or these:

GODZILLA FINAL WARS (2004)

DOA DEAD OR ALIVE (2006)

WAR (2007)

TIMELESS (2009)

This video chronicles his action career (along with brother Shane) and features scenes from each of these films and much more:

kva2F11d5Hw

Thank you! I've actually seen "DOA" and "War" but wasn't aware it was actually him in those. Though they're not exactly masterpieces are they? Haha.

I'd love to give "Coweb" a try and was pissed off that it never got an American release. I see that "Blood Heat" does have a DVD release though. Lovely, I'll pick it up.

Thanks again.

[ShaOW!linDude]

@ Drunken Monk

Here's the review of Blood Heat (aka Muscle Heat) I did a while back, if it helps.

BLOOD HEAT (MUSCLE HEAT) (2002) Run Time: 90 mins.

Stars: Kane Kosugi, Show Aikawa, Masaya Kato, Misato Tachibana, Noboru Kaneko, Kenneth Low (Ken Lo), Joe Lee

Action Dir.: Sam Wong ("Thunderbolt", "Supercop") and Chan Man Chin ("Rumble in the Bronx", "Rush Hour")

Dir.: Ten Shimoyama

"Blood Heat" (BH) is a drug capable of stimulating a person 5 times about their normal limit causing dependency and addiction.

Set in 2009 (I think 2019 would've worked better personally), portions of Tokyo are a no man's land, specifically abandoned industrial areas, one of which is the location of Muscle Dome --- a place the disenfranchised can bet their life savings away on fighters or themselves to become rich and gain a new life. But government forces are cracking down on the gangs distributing the drug BH.

Kane Kosugi is Joe Jinno, a former Navy Seal imprisoned for disobeying orders. He's pardoned and released in order to find and stop the drug's supplier. At a rave club, Joe and his partner, Aguri, raid a drug buy headed up by Kenjin who runs BH with his brother, Lai. Kane's 1st screen fight is against 3 thugs in a narrow corridor. It's very fast, good choreography ending with a jumping split kick. However, Aguri gets captured and sent to Muscle Dome.

Fights/executions are broadcast on teleprompters to the general public. Aguri is put in with the reigning champion, Lee (a punked-out looking Ken Lo), who is nuts and powered by BH. Joe witnesses Aguri's "death" on an outside screen. (Not much of a fight, really. Nothing more than a beating with wirework f/x.)

Joe then goes to Kenjin and Lai's building for revenge. Kenjin has just killed his brother for his coarse eating habits. (Kane's fight with the thugs in a hallway is probably the best in the movie. He shows a flair reminiscent of his father but he uses moves his dad never did.) A SWAT team arrives as he chases Kenjin to the rooftop and fires at his fleeing chopper (one of the few times I've seen that the whirlybird doesn't blow up). Cops arrest him but he deftly escapes from their paddy-wagon after having met Officer Akane, Aguri's sister.

Kenjin holds hostage the wife and daughter of a scientist thus forcing him to manufacture BH. At the expense of her own life, the wife secures her daughter's escape. Joe finds her just as the thugs do. He rescues her and they get away. Together they discover a hidden enclave of street kids led by a young man named Ken who learns that they are wanted.

Joe contacts Akane. They meet at a bridge. The cops move in and they escape by jumping off and onto a passing barge. (Kane performs the stunt himself as shown in the 'making of' featurette.) They go back to Ken's and Kenjin's thugs arrive to take Joe and the little girl to Muscle Dome.

There Joe is pitted against Lee. During the fight, Ken and the street kids dynamite the place. The fight overall.........well, it has its moments. Portions of it are nothing more than a brutal beating. But both KK and KL do showcase some cool maneuvers though many are wire assisted. (I guess they could really be considered wire supported.) I just feel it wasn't quite what it could have been. Still, Joe manages to best him and Lee starts popping more BH. He OD's. But a BH jacked-up Aguri shows up. Joe tries to subdue him without hurting him. Finally Akane arrives to put down her own brother.

This leads to a fight between Joe and Kenjin in an underground tunnel. Kenjin pops his own product and they start dueling with sledgehammers. (It would've been nice to see more traditional weapons used.) Then there's a little hand to hand. very little. KK throws some nice kicks though. It's more of a powerhouse fight with them just flailing at each other. Again, I think it's not what it could have been. And it ends weird in that the outcome isn't clearly shown though you surmise what happened.

Kane's potential as a leading action/MA star is clearly displayed. He's great to watch and he's a far better actor than his dad. If you don't have this, get it. Why he isn't getting more starring roles is beyond me. But I've got a great idea: Team him with Eric Jacobus. I'd watch whatever they come up with in a heartbeat.

[Drunken Monk]

Thanks ShaOW!linDude. It seems as though there have been mixed reviews on this. I might give it a rental rather than a buy.

[daisho2004]

Well I hated the 1st. movie how the hell you call a movie Ninja and don't have any Ninjas in it?!

[Lionclaw]

This is amazing news for me because I feel Kane is one of the most underrated martial arts actors in the business. I've been a huge fan since Blood Heat. He should have blew up after that.

[The Amazing Psycho Per]

I'm one of the few who actlually enjoyed Ninja. Way better then Ninja assassins. So a sequel is a good news with Florentine and Adkins reuniting. Sho Kosugi joining the cast is welcome added bonus.

Well I hated the 1st. movie how the hell you call a movie Ninja and don't have any Ninjas in it?!

There are ninjas in the movie... Tsuyoshi Ihara and Scott Adkins even wear the suits. You may not like the suit design, but they are still ninjas.

[daisho2004]

Way better then Ninja assassins

@The Amazing Psycho Per: OK they wear the Ninja outfits for like 5 minutes! And this supposedly takes place in NY? Please I live in NY and nothing even looked like NY that pissed me off right there. I'm going to watch it again, but I was so disappointed that I didn't even bother to view it again. And Ninja Assassins Kicked Ass I thought that was a great Ninja Movie, it had everything in it plus Sho Kosugi as the Badass leader! I would not even put both of those movies together in the same sentence! But again that is my opinion!

[The Amazing Psycho Per]

And this supposedly takes place in NY? Please I live in NY and nothing even looked like NY that pissed me off right there.

Come on that's not fair... Tons of Hollywood productions do that. I live in Montreal and we have many american movies that are filmed here each year, pretending to be setting in the US. It also happens in Toronto and, as it's the case for Ninja, Vancouver. Look you have every right to hate the movie and I can't defend that the plot is weak, the acting wooden and that the bad guys and the sect thing look ridiculous, but please bare in mind that this was made on a shoestring budget.

[blue_skies]

Ninja was far from the greatest movie but it wasn't terrible either. So I must admit when I read the thread title I was quite excited, more so seeing Scott Adkins away from Jean Claude Van Damme. I wish he would stop wasting his talents making movies with JCVD. I just hope we get to see Scott showcasing his abilities like in Undisputed 3 and the awesome fight scene in the otherwise dismal Special Forces.

[chanbara]

A bit more info on this:

Apparently the producers of the first film are the ones that brought much of the lame fantasy elements to it, including the batman-inspired suits (flying squirl included), making the bad guys a strange costumed sect with symbols instead of regular Russian mobsters, etc.. Adkins and director Florentine apparently weren't on board for it. If that's true, hopefully Florentine and Adkins will have their way in the sequel and make a more serious film. By the way, Avi Lerner (Executive Producer) and Danny Lerner (Producer), were also responsible for American Ninja 2,3,4, and Lethal Ninja, which all had silly cartoonish elements (strange symboled sects, clones, etc...).

The first film's story was also a BIG problem. Luckily the sequel has a different screenwriter, David N. White.

The fight choreographer for the sequel is Tim Man (Ong Bak 2).

Filming is scheduled to start on January 14, 2013 in Thailand.

Thailand should prove to be a more exotic, lush, and visually interesting location than Bulgaria (standing in for NYC in the first film) was.

Keeping my fingers crossed...

[daisho2004]

Come on that's not fair... Tons of Hollywood productions do that. I live in Montreal and we have many american movies that are filmed here each year, pretending to be setting in the US.

Listen you can make a movie on a shoe string budget look at The Raid Redemption for one thing, one of the best Action movies that has been made in the last 10yrs. And don't get me wrong I wanted to love Ninja I love Ninja movies but it really only had 5 minutes of any Ninjas in suits and as far as the location listen NY isn't that clean they made NY look like the land of OZ where you could eat off the floor the trains were spotless, there was nobody on the streets, come on anybody who has ever visited NY knows how the trains looks, any there are always tons of People out at night. All I'm saying is you could have made the movie more believable in that aspect.

[Drunken Monk]

Tim Man should be a nice choice for the choreography though "Ong Bak 2" seems to be his stand-out contribution to action cinema. The fluidity of some of the fights there seem to be a departure form his usual penchant for slow-mo flips and such.

I hope he brings the more complex exchanges to "Ninja 2" and not just a bunch of guys waiting around for someone to do a somersault.

[Elemental Fist]

I'm one of the few who actlually enjoyed Ninja. Way better then Ninja assassins. So a sequel is a good news with Florentine and Adkins reuniting. Sho Kosugi joining the cast is welcome added bonus.

There are ninjas in the movie... Tsuyoshi Ihara and Scott Adkins even wear the suits. You may not like the suit design, but they are still ninjas.

That's odd, I could've sworn a lot of people like this film, I personally thought Scott Adkins was far better as a martial arts lead than Rain was, who had to learn or be doubled for in his movie on his own while Rain was only slightly more charismatic as a lead than Adkins.

[blue_skies]

That's odd, I could've sworn a lot of people like this film, I personally thought Scott Adkins was far better as a martial arts lead than Rain was, who had to learn or be doubled for in his movie on his own while Rain was only slightly more charismatic as a lead than Adkins.

I don't have a big love the original movie but it was far better than the one starring Rain. If it wasn't for the flashbacks part of the story I would say it was woeful, which as an action movie you probably was woeful. CGI blood, you couldn't really see the action. It really was a disappointment, although not a huge surprise. Ninja was MUCH better

[chanbara]

Not sure how this thread evolved into a comparison between the ultra-cool 'Ninja Assassin' and the lame 'Ninja', since comparing them is like comparing a Picasso painting to a kids drawing. Or perhaps comparing a Picasso to a counterfeit, since the 'Ninja' publicity department clearly wanted people to believe it was 'Ninja Assassin', from the advance poster featuring an iconic image of Sho Kosugi from 'Revenge of the Ninja', to the final poster which was a complete rip-off of the 'Ninja Assassin' theatrical poster. It's a shame the film itself wasn't more like it. I really wanted 'Ninja' to be a good movie, but unfortunately it failed on every level. There's nothing about it that even comes close to matching the epic 'Ninja Assassin', which has it beat by miles on story, cast, acting, characters, style, intensity, thrills, cinematography, direction, fight choreography, and action. 'Ninja Assassin' made ninjas lethal, mysterious, and cool again, whereas 'Ninja' reminded us how lame and silly they'd become thanks to the 'American Ninja' sequels, TMNT, G.I. Joe, etc...

That being said, I'm really hoping the sequel will have everything the first film lacked, and be a more serious, less silly live action comic book movie. Scott Adkins has apparently said that he knows what was wrong with the first film, so I'm hoping they'll get it right with the second film. Also hoping that Scott has become a better actor (I realize 'Ninja' was his first lead role, but he was dull and wooden), and that they use Kane and Mika's abilities to the fullest in 'Ninja II'.

Keeping my fingers crossed...

[daisho2004]

I don't have a big love the original movie but it was far better than the one starring Rain

@blue_skies: You seriously thought it was better than Ninja Assassin? Not even close, IMO!

@chanbara: Couldn't have said it better than how you described this movie!

[chanbara]

According to IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2458106/), Japanese actor Shun Sugata has been cast as Goro in the film. He's a good actor, so this is another positive sign. I just saw him in the surprisingly cool "Bunraku", where he played Gackt's uncle, and Emily Kaiho's father.

Speaking of Emily Kaiho, I'd love to see her cast in the film as well. She could play Kane's sister and fight Mika Hijii. She's definitely got some skills as seen in this video where she's practicing some punches and kicks alongside Anna Sawai (who played Kiriko in 'Ninja Assassin').

DUiTRfyNnq8

If not, then maybe Rina Takeda. I'd hate to see Mika relegated to just being the damsel in distress again, like she inexplicably was in the second half of the first film, after being shown to be a highly skilled ninja in her own right (and the sensei's daughter no less) earlier on. Mika's got some genuine skills as evidenced in the subway fight and as the lead in the very cool Japanese film Nukenin (Rogue Ninja).

[blue_skies]

@blue_skies: You seriously thought it was better than Ninja Assassin? Not even close, IMO!

Absolutely. Don't get me wrong I probably don't rate Ninja more than say 6/10(it was okay) but the CGI gore looked much better in Ninja, you could actually see the fights rather than being in almost complete darkness and perhaps more importantly Scott Adkins is the real deal. Not some pretty boy popstar with a few months training. the only thing I liked about Ninja Assassin was the back story and most importantly it failed to thrill me as an action film let alone a martial arts film. Anyway that's my opinion.

[chanbara]

Here's the plot summary for Ninja II written by Nu Image for IMDB:

Fight everyone and trust no one: it's the code of survival practiced by martial-arts master Casey Bowman after his life of domestic bliss is shattered by a savage act of violence. Vowing revenge, the fearless American stealthily tracks the killer from Osaka to Bangkok to Rangoon with the help of a wise and crafty sensei. His only clues: a series of victims whose necks bear the distinctive mark of strangulation by barbed wire. Fighting to avenge as well as to survive, Casey must sharpen his razor-like responses and take his battle skills to the next level, even using deep meditation to fake his own death. His target: the sinister drug lord Goro, who is flooding the streets with deadly meth cooked at his remote jungle factory. To prepare for his ultimate confrontation, Casey must finally become an invisible warrior worthy of the name Ninja. But just when his prey is cornered, an unexpected twist shows Casey that his battle is only beginning: he truly can trust no one.

(source:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2458106/

)

The part that reads "his life of domestic bliss is shattered by a savage act of violence" has me thinking that Mika Hijii won't be in the film for very long which sucks, but otherwise this sounds like a much better and more serious/intense storyline (reminicent of "Revenge of the Ninja" and "Pray For Death") than the first film.

And here are some comments that Scott Adkins has made about the first film. It explains some of the film's weaknesses and also has me thinking that they might just get it right this time around, since Scott seems to be aware of what needs to be done differently:

Scott Adkins:

"I would have loved to have prepared more for the role but I just didn't have the time, I had 1 day off in between finishing Wolverine and starting Ninja. I did my best to get to grips with the sword

which I had never used before

but I had a really bad shoulder injury from Wolverine which was making it difficult to even hold it up. The problem for me on Ninja was that I was going into the project already beat up and tired. This is why we took the decision to make the school more of a Japanese martial arts school rather than a straight up Ninja school hence the opportunity for Fumio Demura to be there. Also Isaac is a Karate nut. Our idea was to keep the film very realistic in the martial arts department, no flying or teleporting. There was a bit of pressure from the studio to put in the more fantastic elements like the Bat wings and stuff like that which I thought was

plain stupid

."

(source:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/59589

)

Scott Adkins:

"I was actually

disappointed

with the first NINJA. I didn’t think we did as good a job as we could have. So I think we have a good direction to take this one and I’m really excited to go and

do a better job

."

(source:

http://www.scottadkinsfanz.co.uk/scottquestions.htm

)

Keeping my fingers crossed...