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

[KUNG FU BOB]

Hey brothers, first I want to say- opinions differ. Some people prefer NINJA ASSASSIN. Some people prefer NINJA. This isn't an opinion that's going to change the way that anybody has to live or anything. It's simply an opinion about what an individual finds more entertaining. So no one can possibly be wrong. Dig?

No one is going to force Blue_Skies to watch NINJA ASSASSIN and say he loves it, and no one is going to force Daisho2004 to watch NINJA and say he loves it. So unless you guys are roommates with one TV... try to relax.

Personally, I normally can't stand CGI blood nor pop stars playing action leads. So when I saw the trailers I thought NINJA ASSASSIN looked like it was going to suck (to me), and knowing what Scott could do from films like the UNDISPUTED sequel had me very excited for NINJA. But to my surprise, when I saw NINJA ASSASSIN I thought Rain was excellent, the CGI worked for me, and despite the fast cutting and darkness (which typically garners a big thumbs down from me) I found the action thrilling and loved the film. A bigger surprise was when I watched NINJA and found it totally underwhelming. Thanks to Chanbara's post I now have a better understanding of why. But at the time I viewed it, I was disappointed with the amount (I thought it was lacking) and quality of the action, Scott Adkins performance, the squirrel suit, the in-no-way-resembles NYC locations, lack of suited up ninjas, etc. I thought the casting of the great Fumio Demura was fantastic, but then to see him so easily dispatched by a warrior with a third of his years of training was a bummer. It also seemed to me that having Scott doing an American accent was a bit too much to put on his shoulders in his first lead role. They should have just let him speak in his own, very cool sounding voice. If so many other things hadn't annoyed me I doubt I would have been as bothered by the NYC stand-in. It didn't bother me when I watched RUMBLE IN THE BRONX where NYC suddenly had nearby mountains. I just laughed and shook my head, amused at the flubs. I would have liked more classically suited up ninjas, and I did not like the modern ninja suits which I thought looked like something out of Kamen Rider or G.I. JOE. But it makes sense that like everything else, ninjitsu and it's weapons and suits would modernize as the times change. Of course, I'm not watching a film called NINJA to see a 100% realistic depiction of what ninja warriors would truly have evolved into. I'm watching the film to be entertained. I suppose if we were looking into the reality of what ninjas would really do combat-wise in this day and age, they would probably do a lot of computer hacking to do preliminary digital damage to their targets! But I'd much rather see them throw shurikens into people's eyes. So I do understand people's disappointment with the film.

Upon second viewings, I enjoyed NINJA ASSASSIN even more than the first time (Blu-Ray really makes everything much clearer during the action scenes), and thought NINJA was much more enjoyable. NINJA has a certain low-budget charm, and the climax does feature some cool weapons work. It'll never be a favorite, but I'd re-watch this over something like BATTLESHIP any day.

Regarding the NINJA sequel, I'm totally open to it being an enjoyable film. I like the casting, story stuff that I've read, and both the star and director. So bring it on. As far as Scott's acting goes, I thought he was terrific as Boyka in UNDISPUTED 2 and 3, with a convincing (and menacing sounding) Russian accent, and he really showed huge leaps in his performanceskills in UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING. I'll watch anything he's in. Fingers crossed that NINJA 2 makes like ROAD WARRIOR and surpasses the original film with grace, style, and kick ass action.

[AlbertV]

Bob...you truly nailed it in the head...lets not turn into a war between Ninja and Ninja Assassin. I may be crucified for this, but I liked certain parts of both films.

However, with Ninja 2, I'm stoked that they want to get it right...i think the producers learned their mistake.

[Chinatown Kid]

Well if Kane gets to show off his kicking arsenal like he did in the finale of Coweb I'll be happy, here's hoping Adkins and he will have one hell of a fight in this sequel.

[KUNG FU BOB]

Bob...you truly nailed it in the head.

I'm good at that. Because I have a mutantly large head and I wind up nailing it quite a bit on things as I walk around.

I may be crucified for this, but I liked certain parts of both films.

Hopefully you won't be. But if you are, I will bring you some sunblock.

However, with Ninja 2, I'm stoked that they want to get it right...i think the producers learned their mistake.

The quotes from that Scott Adkins interview really showed that he "gets it" and would've made a better film if given the chance. Knowing now that he performed the action in NINJA with an injured shoulder and no previous experience with a katana?! Wow, now the action is more impressive! Certainly a film's merit can't normally be judged on this kind of thing. But now that it's after the fact, I may pop NINJA on to take another look with these new facts in mind.

Well if Kane gets to show off his kicking arsenal like he did in the finale of Coweb I'll be happy, here's hoping Adkins and he will have one hell of a fight in this sequel.

Amen to that. COWEB is a mess of a film, but I still enjoyed a lot of the action and thought Kane was great. With Kane up against Scott, there's definitely huge potential to create a memorable cinematic duel.

[Karlos]

Nice to see that this discussion has stayed friendly and civil.

I found NINJA to be a real missed opportunity that failed to deliver, but the idea of a sequel intrigues and I look forward to it.

NINJA ASSASSIN, I straight up love.

And what a good choice of choregrapher for NINJA 2 Tim Man is, although he's not been the same since he split from scarecrow and the cowardly lion.

[KUNG FU BOB]

Nice to see that this discussion has stayed friendly and civil.

I was waiting until you got here to get really nasty! Grrrr....

And what a good choice of choregrapher for NINJA 2 Tim Man is, although he's not been the same since he split from scarecrow and the cowardly lion.

I'm embarrassed to say- I don't know Tim Man by name. Other than someone just mentioning in this thread that he did some work on ONG-BAK 2, I don't know what else he's done. So are you referring to Panna and Tony when you say "scarecrow and the cowardly lion"? Is there a story there- like an angry split or something?

[Karlos]

Hey, bro.

The "Tim Man" thing was just one of your ol' pal Karlos' patented terrible jokes (his name sounds like "Tin Man" from Wizard of Oz)!

[KUNG FU BOB]

Hey, bro.

The "Tim Man" thing was just one of your ol' pal Karlos' patented terrible jokes (his name sounds like "Tin Man" from Wizard of Oz)!

Oh! LOL

[ShaOW!linDude]

And what a good choice of choregrapher for NINJA 2 Tim Man is, although he's not been the same since he split from scarecrow and the cowardly lion.

I got it! I got it! And no one had to explain to me....but that's not a dig at anyone...ahem. (Of course, I had to ponder it for quite some time but then it was obvious.)

Well, I enjoy both films and really have no preference of one over the other. I see strengths and faults with each.

Ninja Assassin

Pro's

Love the plot, back story, and acting. The action and f/x are amazing to me; some of the best cgi blood ever. It's a freakin' bloodbath of a movie. It brought back Sho Kosugi and he made for a fantastic villain.

Con's

Too dark for the action at times. Action is often too fast to enjoy. While there is some MA, could've been more. Hate supernaturally fast ninjas. Sho Kosugi's martial skills aren't properly utilized.

Ninja

Pro's

I thought Adkins was really good in this for a 1st time leading role. There's plenty of fights, more MA, and the choreography is good. I liked the plot and back story of this, too. It has Fumio Demura in it.

Con's

The acting's not always the best. The "cult" was pretty stupid and lame. Ninjas wearing gaudy body armor. Fumio Demura's martial skills aren't properly utilized.

But here's the great thing about both of these movies: they both came out in 2009. That means we fans got 2 ninja movies in 1 year! That's a win-win, guys! When was the last time we had that? The late 80's? And now we're gonna get another one!!!! Hey, if fashion can be retroactive every 25 years, why not ninja movies?

[chanbara]

As far as Scott's acting goes, I thought he was terrific as Boyka in UNDISPUTED 2 and 3, with a convincing (and menacing sounding) Russian accent, and he really showed huge leaps in his performanceskills in UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING.

Glad to hear that Scott has improved as a "thespian" since the first film. And nice post by the way, I was nodding my head in agreement throughout pretty much the entire thing.

However, with Ninja 2, I'm stoked that they want to get it right...i think the producers learned their mistake.

I think it's clear that Scott knows what went wrong, but whether or not the producers (the Lerner brothers/Nu Image) learned their mistake, still remains unclear. The first film was very much a clone/continuation of their 4 earlier goofy ninja productions, "American Ninja 2", "American Ninja 3", "American Ninja 4", and "Lethal Ninja". Hopefully Scott and Isaac will be able to keep the "fantastic elements" that the Lerners apparently love, out of this one.

Well if Kane gets to show off his kicking arsenal like he did in the finale of Coweb I'll be happy, here's hoping Adkins and he will have one hell of a fight in this sequel.

Same here. I also hope that they take full advantage of Kane's skills with Japanese weapons, including katana, nunchaku, bo, yari, etc... which he first unleashed on audiences 30 years ago in his screen debut as an 8 year-old ninja-in-training in "Revenge of the Ninja". This is one thing I'm a bit worried about. That in order to make sure that Kane doesn't upstage Scott, they don't use Kane's many varied martial skills to their fullest. From the synopsis, it already sounds like Mika's going to be wasted. Please don't do the same with Kane.

All in all though, I have to say that the list of ingredients we've been given so far are adding up to a pretty tasty recipe. Not only will they be filming in exotic Thailand, but it looks like the Production Designer (Rakpan Thanadpojanamart), and Costume Designer (Preeyanan 'Lin' Suwannathda) are from Thailand too. Why is this a good thing. Well asside from the fact that the sci-fi ninja costumes and NYC:ooh: sets in the first film were terrible, I know of at least 5 recent films that were shot in Thailand which had both great locations and sets and featured great looking ninja costumes: "Ong Bak 2", "The King Maker", "Queens of Langkasuka", "Yamada: The Samurai of Ayothaya", and even "The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption".

[AlbertV]

Poster is up:

[ShaOW!linDude]

Leftover art work from the first film.

[Youal]

Filming has begun. Scott as Casey Bowman is back in action.

https://twitter.com/TheScottAdkins/status/294873686480125952/photo/1

[oneskyforall]

I'm pretty excited for this, the first one had some good action in it there was just a little too much unintentional cheese with "the cult" or whatever it was XD

[popsjnr]

No I loved the cult, and the fight with the cult members is the Film's finest moment IMO, I also love the fact that the cult leader is a failed English actor from Liverpool-set 80's era Brookside, who is dubbed

.

Together with the Special Forces leader (an actor from Eastenders) and the Female Cop (from Emmerdale) in Shepherd, seems Scott's movies are becoming a haven for failed UK soap-opera actors and their dodgy American accents.

[hanshotfirst]

Sigh, apparently Ahihiro Noguchi (Yuji Sakei) won't be returning to do the fight choreography. I'm sure whoever they choose will acquit himself well, but now that Koichi Sakamoto has gone back to Japan and bailed on Power Rangers, he was the last Alpha Stunts member standing, especially in the West, as far as I know. Wonder who he's doing now, I sure miss the Alpha boys, shame hey never got more DTV work Stateside, I guess they missed the golden age by a bit. Ah, well.

[AlbertV]

Sigh, apparently Ahihiro Noguchi (Yuji Sakei) won't be returning to do the fight choreography. I'm sure whoever they choose will acquit himself well, but now that Koichi Sakamoto has gone back to Japan and bailed on Power Rangers, he was the last Alpha Stunts member standing, especially in the West, as far as I know. Wonder who he's doing now, I sure miss the Alpha boys, shame hey never got more DTV work Stateside, I guess they missed the golden age by a bit. Ah, well.

Sakamoto is back in Japan as mentioned and he is directing the new Super Sentai Series, JYUDEN SENTAI KYORYUUGER, premiering February 17th on TV Asahi. I will not be surprised if he is also serving as the series' action director either. The good news is that Isaac Florentine served as consultant on POWER RANGERS SAMURAI and my guess, is he may be consultant on POWER RANGERS MEGAFORCE.

Tim Man may do well replacing Noguchi, as long as he gets to utilize both Adkins and Kosugi's skills to the max.

[popsjnr]

Hope Tim Man appears in the flik too, not just choreographs

I'm still shell shocked from his video showcases I stumbled across by accident on youtube last year, if he did the choreography in the fights there...

...we are in for a mind-blower!!!

[hanshotfirst]

Sakamoto is back in Japan as mentioned and he is directing the new Super Sentai Series, JYUDEN SENTAI KYORYUUGER, premiering February 17th on TV Asahi. I will not be surprised if he is also serving as the series' action director either. The good news is that Isaac Florentine served as consultant on POWER RANGERS SAMURAI and my guess, is he may be consultant on POWER RANGERS MEGAFORCE.

Tim Man may do well replacing Noguchi, as long as he gets to utilize both Adkins and Kosugi's skills to the max.

Yeah, Sakamoto is apparently doing big-time tokusatsu in Japan, so it's likely he won't be back to Power Rangers. I think Noguchi is still on PR, or he was, I think they have a new action choreographer on board and a new stunt team. Still, Adkins and Kosugi are a hell of a pair, so hopefully with Florentine on board, this will still be fun.

[chanbara]

Some new comments from Scott Adkin's twitter page: http://twitter.com/TheScottAdkins

"#Ninja2 may have some of the best fight scenes I've ever done. Kane Kosugi is an incredible martial artist, it is a pleasure to work with him."

Hope we get to see some pics or clips soon.

[KUNG FU BOB]

Some new comments from Scott Adkin's twitter page: http://twitter.com/TheScottAdkins

"#Ninja2 may have some of the best fight scenes I've ever done. Kane Kosugi is an incredible martial artist, it is a pleasure to work with him.".

That is so exciting to hear. Scott seems like a very cool, modest dude from the interveiws and BTS clips I've seen of him. So if he feels that way about his own work...

[ShaOW!linDude]

That is so exciting to hear. Scott seems like a very cool, modest dude from the interveiws and BTS clips I've seen of him. So if he feels that way about his own work...

Agreed. I remember him saying in an interview about Undisputed 3 that working on the fight choreography with Lateef Crowder was an education. And that fight was so cool. I'm psyched to see him and Kane go at it on screen!!!!

[gorhama]

I remember reading that his knee was messed up while filming the first NINJA....so to know that he's hopefully 100% and making comments like that....this movie has jumped to the top of my must see list.

[KUNG FU BOB]

Agreed. I remember him saying in an interview about Undisputed 3 that working on the fight choreography with Lateef Crowder was an deucation. And that fight was so cool. I'm psyched to see him and Kane go at it on screen!!!!

That's cool. He seems like h'd be a cool cat to work with.

I remember reading that his knee was messed up while filming the first NINJA....so to know that he's hopefully 100% and making comments like that....this movie has jumped to the top of my must see list.

Really? Damn.

Same thing with UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING... his knee was injured, so he could do some of the more extreme stuff that he initially wanted to do. You sure couldn't tell though!

[popsjnr]

I see on Scott Adkins facebook page his next movie, after Ninja 2, has been announced and will be a team up with Randy Couture for Distant Shore (which sounds like a partial remake of Dead Calm)