The high impact team behind Undisputed 2 & 3, Special Forces and Ninja, director Isaac Florentine and leading man Scott Adkins have just wrapped another high impact martial arts film, a sequel to their previous project Ninja.
Plot: Fight everyone and trust no one, thats the code of survival adopted by American Ninja Casey Bowman after his life is torn apart by a savage act of violence. Swearing to take revenge, Casey tracks the killer from Osaka, to Bangkok to Rangoon, with the help of a mysterious Sensei.
His only leads are a series of victims, all of whom bear a distinctive mark that Casey recognizes from the event that tore his life apart. Fighting to survive as well as to avenge, Casey must sharpen his martial arts skills to the highest level in order to survive and finally learn the truth.
His final target is the sinister Drug Lord Goro, who is flooding the streets with deadly drugs cooked at his remote jungle base. To acheive final victory, Casey must become an invisible warrior worthy of the name Ninja. But as he corners his prey, and battle lines are drawn for a final battle, an unexpected betrayal leaves Casey facing an unstoppable enemy utterly alone...
I visited the set of Ninja 2 in the final days of production in Bangkok, and while the cast and crew were exhausted, having delivered an incredible 16 or so fight scenes in the course of a 40 day shooting schedule, spirits were high and after taking a look at both the pre-viz action and the completed fights, i'm happy to see that Ninja 2 looks set to deliver even more high impact high quality martial arts action for the sequel.
The relationship between Florentine & Adkins as director and leading man works so well, with Florentine getting the best from Adkins as both one hell of a scren fighter as well as an actor, while Adkins continues to deliver the kind of martial arts action and physicality that audiences want to see. While the man with the deadly lens, DOP Ross Clarkson proves once again just how strong a cinematographer he is, as well as being the best western action DOP in the business.
Scott Adkins martial-arts highlights
Joining them for this film are Kane Kosugi (DOA, Muscle Heat), son of 80's Ninja legend Sho Kosugi, and if anyone has the spirit of the Ninja in the bloodline, its him. We've long been fans of Kane, he has the looks, the moves and a great attitude, why this man isnt a bigger star confuses us, and he certainly earned the respect of cast and crew on this film. Its a different Kane Kosugi we see this time round, he's not playing the fresh faced hero this time, he's bearded and looking older and tougher but still delivering some incredible action with the big fight between Kane & Adkins being one to watch out for.
Kane Kosugi long take fight scene
Handling the films fight and stunt choreography are Tim Man & Brahim Achabbakhe, both of whom have earned their stripes in the high impact world of Thai action cinema as stuntmen, fighters and choreographers. Tim is probably best known for his work on Bangkok Adrenaline and the recent Kill Em All starring Gordon Liu, although Tim's original choreography is far superior to the cut down version in the released version which was seemingly edited by people who don't understand anything about action. Brahim who will be seen in a cameo role in Man of Tai Chi , and can be seen in Sanctuary and the as yet unreleased Eagle Path worked with Tim on the choreography for the film, and i was very impressed by their pre-viz of the films various fight scenes as well as the finished fights i saw, and their performances on set. Tim Man faces off against Adkins in a nice kick fest which will have people very excited.
We'll be running some full coverage and interviews with cast and crew from Ninja 2 shortly, as the film currently moves into post-production. UK-based fans of Adkins can see him first on the big-screen in a special showing of Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (3D) at the Bradford Film Festival in April. See HERE for more details....
Tim Man
