Genre: Action, Crime thriller
Directed by: James McTeigue
Produced by: Joel Silver, Larry Wachowski, Andy Wachowski
Written by: Matthew Sand (screenplay), J. Michael Straczynski (screenplay).
Lead actor: Rain (Jung Jihoon), Naomi Harris
This movie is about a young ninja named Raizo who decides to betray the Ozuno ninja clan that has raised him, causing a confrontation to break out as a result of both side’s mutual desire for revenge.
The narrative structure of the movie is Linear with a closed structure. The film begins with an action scene which clearly shows the audience what type of movie this is and straight away engages the viewer by creating expectations on what the film will carry later on.
The movie begins with the story of Raizo who has been an orphan since he was a child and is taken in by the Ozuno clan and trained using brutal and severe methods in order for him to become the most lethal assassin and future successor of the clan. Through the years as a trainee young Raizo became close with young girl Kiriko, who like him was also training to become an assassin. They begin to develop a romantic bond, however after becoming teenagers Kiriko decides she no longer wants to be part of Ozuno clan and wishes to abandon it for freedom. On a rainy night Kiriko decides to escape from the Ozuno clan and encourages Raizon to escape along with her, however he refuses causing her to leave on her on. Kiriko is later captured by the ninjas and brought back to the clan where she is killed by her ninja brother Takeshi in front of Raizo as a punishment for betrayal; this caused the resentment and disapproval that Raizo had towards the Ozuno to grow. During Raizo's first mission outside the Ozuno walls he is faced with the order given by Lord Ozuno to execute another young ninja who like Kiriko attempted to leave the Ozuno clan, however Raizo becomes outraged at the thought of doing the same thing Takeshi did to Kiriko a few years ago, and decides to rebel against lord ozuno and cuts his face with the kyoketsu-shoge in his hand. After this Raizo spends years running away from the numerous attempts of the Ozuno clan to kill him.
Meanwhile an Europol agent Mika finds out about the Ozuno clan and meets Raizo who she convinces to meet her superior Maslow for protection and to serve as evidence against the Ozuno clan. However Raizo is instead captured by the Europol for questioning. The ninjas infiltrate the safehouse to kill Raizo but Mika manages to free him and they escape. Raizo is then taken to a motel by Mika to recover from his serious injuries, she then leaves him with the tracking device and goes outside to wait for backup. However the ninjas arrive there before the agents and take him back to the clan. On the way their Raizo used his special ninja techniques to heal his injuries as much as possible. Europol Special Forces tracked Raizo and invaded the secret Ozuno layer where a battle takes place between the ninjas and the agents. Meanwhile Raizo engages in a sword fight with Lord Ozuno after killing Takeshi, however Mika is stabbed when she attempts to help Raizo. Raizo becomes enraged at the seemingly fatal injury she has suffered and uses his ‘shadow bending’ technique for the first time to defeat. Raizo soon finds out that luckily Mika’s heart is on the opposite side of her chest and that she will be fine and climbs over the same wall Kiriko to finally meet his freedom after the defeat of the Ozuno clan.
The movie begins with the story of Raizo who has been an orphan since he was a child and is taken in by the Ozuno clan and trained using brutal and severe methods in order for him to become the most lethal assassin and future successor of the clan. Through the years as a trainee young Raizo became close with young girl Kiriko, who like him was also training to become an assassin. They begin to develop a romantic bond, however after becoming teenagers Kiriko decides she no longer wants to be part of Ozuno clan and wishes to abandon it for freedom. On a rainy night Kiriko decides to escape from the Ozuno clan and encourages Raizon to escape along with her, however he refuses causing her to leave on her on. Kiriko is later captured by the ninjas and brought back to the clan where she is killed by her ninja brother Takeshi in front of Raizo as a punishment for betrayal; this caused the resentment and disapproval that Raizo had towards the Ozuno to grow. During Raizo's first mission outside the Ozuno walls he is faced with the order given by Lord Ozuno to execute another young ninja who like Kiriko attempted to leave the Ozuno clan, however Raizo becomes outraged at the thought of doing the same thing Takeshi did to Kiriko a few years ago, and decides to rebel against lord ozuno and cuts his face with the kyoketsu-shoge in his hand. After this Raizo spends years running away from the numerous attempts of the Ozuno clan to kill him.
Meanwhile an Europol agent Mika finds out about the Ozuno clan and meets Raizo who she convinces to meet her superior Maslow for protection and to serve as evidence against the Ozuno clan. However Raizo is instead captured by the Europol for questioning. The ninjas infiltrate the safehouse to kill Raizo but Mika manages to free him and they escape. Raizo is then taken to a motel by Mika to recover from his serious injuries, she then leaves him with the tracking device and goes outside to wait for backup. However the ninjas arrive there before the agents and take him back to the clan. On the way their Raizo used his special ninja techniques to heal his injuries as much as possible. Europol Special Forces tracked Raizo and invaded the secret Ozuno layer where a battle takes place between the ninjas and the agents. Meanwhile Raizo engages in a sword fight with Lord Ozuno after killing Takeshi, however Mika is stabbed when she attempts to help Raizo. Raizo becomes enraged at the seemingly fatal injury she has suffered and uses his ‘shadow bending’ technique for the first time to defeat. Raizo soon finds out that luckily Mika’s heart is on the opposite side of her chest and that she will be fine and climbs over the same wall Kiriko to finally meet his freedom after the defeat of the Ozuno clan.
The movie successfully incorporated the ninja theme into the choice of costumes and buildings for the Ozuno clan scenes. The buildings had the traditional Japanese architecture with the sliding doors and tatami flooring something we as an audience would expect from a ninja film. The clothing of the ninjas are dark (shinobi shozoko) which helps to illustrate their mysterious and secretive lifestyle, both of these things are something that we would associate with ninja movies since these are some of the conventions for this type of movie. The action scenes were believable, there weren't any moments in the film where it seemed as if one of the characters didn't get hit during a fighting sequence, since the actions scenes were very graphic which allowed the audience to clearly see the blade cutting off limbs and penetrating the body.
One the other hand the special effects applied to the blood wasn't very realistic since the amount of blood present in the scenes was quite exaggerated and the colour and texture of the blood looked unrealistic.
One the other hand the special effects applied to the blood wasn't very realistic since the amount of blood present in the scenes was quite exaggerated and the colour and texture of the blood looked unrealistic.
No comments:
Post a Comment