Fantastic Fest Review: Ninja Assassin cinematical One can't ask too much of a film called Ninja Assassin -- that's a given -- but James McTeigue's proper directorial follow-up to V for Vendetta does its damnedest to take that insta-pulp title and weave around it a worn-out tale of forbidden love, family betrayal, and government conspiracy. Complete with some hard-to-see fight scenes and some harder-to-hear dialogue, all delivered with a poker-straight face and capped off with some super-splattery kills, it's like a graphic novel adaptation with comic book punctuation, a film so flagrant in its fakery that it almost forgets to have any fun. Raizo (Korean pop star Rain, of Speed Racer and "Colbert Report" fame) was once an orphan, raised by a secretive clan to, um, assassinate as, well, a ninja would. One forbidden fling and one shamed father later, and our pariah protagonist is off to Berlin in order to save Europol* agent Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris) from the grisly fate that her criminal investigations have inevitably drawn. To its credit, Assassin doesn't skimp on its action sequences, but what's there is a flurry of fury at best, cluttered with the exaggerated motions of swinging swords and throwing star after throwing star, and then cut up to undermine the genuine physical efforts of its lead and countless stuntmen at every turn. Two night fights early on are near indecipherable in execution, while a mid-point slo-mo slice-and-dice shot seems lifted wholesale from Warner Brothers' own 300. Worse yet, each kill is then accompanied by a garish burst of computer-generated bloodshed, a novelty that wears out its welcome from the prologue on and renders each subsequent death scene as unremarkable and unexciting as the last. And each video game has its share of cut-scenes, we're treated to the cheesiest dialogue uttered by a uniformly wooden ensemble in between melees. As the eponymous soldier of stealth, Rain only fares best because he has less to say than this review does and is often shirtless demonstrates a viable physicality that goes otherwise obscured during the chopped-up, blur-happy battles. Harris plays panicked on cue, and McTeigue vet Ben Miles (Racer, Vendetta) plays her boss/boyfriend with a perfectly adequate sense of skepticism. None, though, can manage to make the plodding plotting seem particularly urgent or critical in the greater scheme of things, and none can justify the handy mysticism that creeps in enough to make literal shadows out of assailants and heal any wound at any time. All of the back story in the world can't make us care about what made a ninja assassin just that, though, similar to how all of the whooshing sounds can't help us grasp just who is sparring with who when the chit-chat does subside, and all of those flying fluids can't disguise the fact that Ninja Assassin is a thoroughly bloodless experience. *That's right, it's not even Interpol. Hell, the film should just take place in Schmerlin.

Rain Says Al Pacino Is His Hero The Korea Times Korean singer and actor Rain said he wants to work with his"hero" Al Pacino someday. MTV presented a question and answer session between the Korean pop star and his fans in time with the release of the first full clip from the action flick "Ninja Assassin," in which Rain plays a starring role. Asked whether there is any action star he would like to team up with for a movie, Rain said, "When I was young, `Scarface' was my favorite film. Al Pacino is my hero. I want to work with him." Rain said he sustained lots of cuts on his body while acting for the new film, which hits theaters Nov. 25. "I have lots of cuts on my body. When I was doing a stunt, even though everyone took care of me, I still got hurt a lot," he said. Rain told his fans that diet was the hardest part of the training he went through for the movie. "I ate chicken breast for eight months with vegetables. That was terrible. No sugar. No salt. I don't want to eat chicken breast anymore. I like junk food, French fries, hamburgers ― I love it," he said. He indicated that in the future he will make an English-language album for international fans. "I don't have plans yet for an English album, but I will. Please wait for me," he said. The young Korean actor is already a pop-culture phenomenon in Korea. Now, with his first starring role, he seems poised to earn some new fans in the States. Filmed in Berlin, Germany, the action adventure movie is produced by Joel Silver and the Wachowski brothers.

Korean star Rain goes on 'torturous' diet for new film
channelnewasia



SEOUL : South Korean superstar Rain had to put himself on a strict diet for his latest role in action flick "Ninja Assassin" in which he plays an orphan who becomes a ninja warrior.

The new, Joel Silver-produced movie, promises plenty of stunts, sword fights and of course, the leading man himself, Rain.

Describing the food he took as "terrible", and just thinking about it makes him shudder. Now that he no longer has to subject himself to a strict regimen, he is glad that he is able to resume a normal diet, reported Korean media.

For the sake of the movie’s role which required him to be in perfect and lean condition, the singer-actor said that he underwent intensive training two months before filming commenced.

Admitting his preference for junk food, French fries and hamburgers, his diet during the eight months of filming and training was replaced by mainly steamed fish and chicken breast with vegetables. During the process, the 27-year-old managed to lose 22 pounds (10 kilograms).

When asked if he would undergo another round of intense dieting for another role in a movie, Rain, whose name is Jung Ji Hoon, shook his head in disapproval.

"It feels scary just thinking about that period. I don’t think it’s possible for me to go through the process again. It was painful especially for someone like me who worships food."

Rain made his American movie debut with last year's "Speed Racer" and "Ninja Assassin" marks his first Hollywood leading role. The movie is scheduled to open in theatres later this year.