Thoughts on a Live Action Ninja Scroll

I’m quite intrigued by the concept of an American live action Jubei Ninpucho movie for a number of reasons.

I wonder if Hollywood is really able to produce a Japanese-centric film. I haven’t seen Memoirs of a Geisha, but I’m not certain that the ignorance is relevant because “Geisha” is, I think, a sort of window in from the outside as much as it’s a romantic drama and not a fantasy action film. Films like Black Rain, The Hunted, The Yakuza, and even the Shogun TV mini-series all center on the outsider’s perspective of Japan while Ninja Scroll, in order to be Ninja Scroll, has to entirely exclude the foreign perspective. Associated with that fact is the setting of Ninja Scroll. It’s a fantasy period piece set entirely outside of the familiar American perspective. What was the last American feature to do that? The Lord of the Rings films? Eragon? Even those films are rooted in the familiarity of Western lore. The Narnia films and The Seeker don’t do that. Not sure about The Golden Compass or Stardust, but again, those films nod to the comfort of European civility. Even Pathfinder and 10,000 BC are still grounded in the familiarity of Western history. Hollywood just simply doesn’t make samurai movies. And Ninja Scroll can’t be a Forbidden Kingdom style Western-Eastern samurai movie, otherwise it’s no longer Ninja Scroll. Jubei Ninpcho works because it’s set in a totally convincing and immersive ancient Japan that allows viewers to suspend belief and accept the existence of monstrous warriors and ninja. If it’s not taken deadly seriously, it ends up being camp like the D.O.A. movie. Furthermore, the original Mortal Kombat movie was able to eliminate the blood and still create a convincing, serious fantasy martial arts setting, complete with a monster antagonist. But in order to be true to its source, a live action Ninja Scroll movie will either have to feature Matrix caliber stylized fights, or it’ll need to be very bloody. Features like Rambo, and reportedly the upcoming Samurai Assassin prove that Hollywood isn’t afraid of a little red, but I wonder if Warner will be willing to let a live action Ninja Scroll movie be as graphic as it needs to be. I think the upcoming Blood: The Last Vampire film may be very relevant to a planned Ninja Scroll movie. If Blood is able to convince and satisfy viewers, there may be hope that Hollywood is capable of crafting a satisfying Ninja Scroll feature.

There certainly is precedent for this project never panning out. After all, Threshold Entertainment announced plans for a live action Ninja Scroll movie and never moved forward – probably due to insufficient funding, but I’d like to imagine that perhaps producer Larry Kasanoff realized how difficult such a film would be to pull off and put on the brakes. But it may actually make it to screens eventually. After all, the live action Speed Racer movie kicked around in Hollywood for years, and the Watchmen movie has been threatened for even longer. Box office success for either the Blood: The Last Vampire or Samurai Assassin movies may also significantly increase the chances of a live action Ninja Scroll movie actually getting made. It’s been 35 years since Toei amazed audiences with Tomisaburo Wakayama’s stunning gore drenched Kozure Okami movies. I think it would be great to see that sort of breathtaking, unabashedly sanguine samurai action film again, and Jubei Kibagami’s personality is an ideal vehicle for an American produced “Spaghetti Eastern” in the vein of a Leone/Corbucci film.