Ninja Assassin: Never Ending Nostalgia of Martial Arts Films

Ninja Assassin: Never Ending Nostalgia of Martial Arts films

Fantastic visual effects and spectacular action scenes are what the films of the

Wachowski Brothers (Andy and Larry Wachowski) typically offer. Even though their films are pervaded with multi-layered themes, it is visuals such as speedy chases, high- tech machines, and martial arts that have captivated audiences in movies such as the

Matrix Series (1999-2003) and Speed (Speed Racer) (2008). Thus, when the Wachowski

Brothers, as producers, announced the making of a new film about ninjas, the media and the film audience in general expected to see riveting visuals of martial-arts moves against the background of a mysterious, mythical story. Responding to the audience’s desire,

Ninja Assassin (2009) directed by James McTeigue, an assistant director of Matrix, is the movie changing a monotonous context about a hero fighting for justice and humanity into a hypnotic film by adapting exotic subject of Ninja garnished with martial arts as a fascinating visual factor.

Ninja Assassin is a movie about a solitary hero who fights an assassin organization called

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‘Ozunu.’ This secret organization brings orphans who have been abandoned by their biological parents to their society when they are children. Then, in the isolated circumstances of their world, they are provided food, shelter and training to become specialized assassins or ‘Ninjas.’ Raizo, the protagonist, played by Jung Ji-hoon (Chŏng

Chi-hun, “Rain”), becomes the most outstanding and favorite trainee of the boss. Raizo ultimately decides, however, to betray and fight against the family after witnessing the death of his first love and after the bitter experience of completing his first assassination.

Defending himself from the constant attacks of the Ozunu coterie, Raizo disappears without a trace to prepare for his fight against them. Simultaneously, Mika, a Europol agent played by Naomi Harris, obtains top-secret documents proving the existence of the

Ozunu coterie and Raizo. Since the documents function as a key to unraveling the secrets of the Ozunu, Mika becomes a main target of the Ninjas. As Raizo saves Mika from the

Ninja’s attack, he cooperates with Mika to fight against the organization since he realizes that Ozunu faction will not stop chasing them.

It is justice for humanity that makes Raizo a hero although he is a betrayer of his own

“family.” In other words, the movie portrays the Ozunu faction as unjust and inhumane, and the fact that they must be destroyed justifies Raizo’s betrayal and fight against the faction as a realization of justice for humanity. To clarify the contrast between Ozunu coterie and Raizo, the movie deconstructs the ostensible bond of the gang. According to the words of the boss, a central notion of the Ozunu coterie is their unbreakable bond as a family. Thus, if anyone betrays or breaks the family bond, that one must be executed by one of the members with his/her sword since he/she has disgraced the name of the Ozunu family. The bond of family is, however, a fabrication that was created to sustain the

75 business of the organization. Nominally, they belong to the same family, yet at the same time they compete against each other in order to survive. No sympathy or emotional attachment is allowed even towards each other. In other words, what makes them family is not psychological affection but their inhumanity and loyalty.

To depict the inhumanity of the Ozunu faction, the movie effectively utilizes a timeline.

The movie does not follow the normal timeline from the past to present. Instead, the past intervenes with the timelines of the present through Raizo’s recollections. In the movie,

Raizo’s memories function as an important factor revealing the reasons why he has determined to fight against the inhumanity of the Ozunu coterie. In addition, the memories of a female colleague with whom Raizo fell in love as a youth are significant since she taught him the importance of humanity and freedom while he trained to become the best Ninja. Her death traumatized Raizo as a youth, so that he is determined to fight against the family when he realizes the inhumanity of the clique after Raizo finishes his first mission to kill someone he does not know. Consequently, in the movie, the technique of flashbacks break the chronology and make the audience adjust the timeline like a puzzle to find out the reasons for Raizo’s actions in the present.

Manipulating the timeline also keeps the audience from losing interest. While flashbacks are inserted between the scenes to suggest the importance of compassion, which is a main theme of the movie, visuals in the present provide satisfaction for the audience’s expectations of exotic martial arts. The film begins with the Ninja’s atrocious massacres followed by narration by an old man about the legendary Ninja. Their mysterious and cruel movements create an intense visual impression of Ninja. Throughout the movie,

76 exotic images of Ninja are maintained by describing them with shadows and whispers.

Their movements are rarely visible in a clear-cut fashion.

Slow motion technique is the most efficient device employed to show exotic martial arts in Ninja Assassin. Surrealistic techniques of martial arts dominate the exotic and enigmatic features of the film. Fascinating martial arts with exotic Asian face and body presenting at present strengthens visual fulfillments by being interweaved with the secret training of Ninja from Ozunu coterie in the past. Slow motion technique is used above all to present Raizo’s movements. When he practices martial arts learning from Ninja training and fights against other Ninjas dispatched from Ozunu coterie, the camera take close shots of Raizo’s body, relishing and highlighting the actor’s muscular physical movement. These technical apparatus enhances the powerful image of the hero and visual effects of martial arts in the movie.

Ninja Assassin is one another specimen of Hollywood’s adaptation of mythical Asian topics and martial arts. The Wachowski Brothers avow publicly that they are big fans of

Bruce Lee, who left a significant impression in 1970s through various martial arts films; they’re among many others of their generation who still cherish abiding nostalgia for martial arts movie. Ninja Assassin follows the traditional form of martial arts films. An

Asian hero qualified with fascinating martial arts appeals to the audience who still have never ending nostalgia for Bruce Lee. This is both its strength and its weakness.

Contemporary martial arts must strive to be both similar to and different from Bruce Lee- style “Asian” cinema. Technically speaking Ninja Assassin certainly achieves striking effects, which puts it on a stage above Bruce Lee films. However, whether it offers

77 anything refreshingly new in terms of “Asian” martial-arts mystique isn’t as obvious. A much talked-about feature of Ninja Assassin, in Korea at any rate, is the main actor,

“Rain,” whose getting a lead role in a major Hollywood production was celebrated almost as a “national” triumph. Yet his nationality matters very little in this film, which from its very title on presents a Japanese-flavored multi-Asian action. That mixture of Asian motifs may be something new, although its cultural implications remain ambiguous.