Ninja 2 : Shadow Of A Tear (2013) starring Scott Adkins

[slumcat]

The sequel to Ninja (2009).

Here is the trailer. The trailer looks insane. More action in the trailer than you see in a dozen Hollywood films.


Here are some images.

 

[dude stannis]

Scott Adkins needs to be in the third Raid movie.

 

[Project862006]

the first ninja was horrible

too bad scott cant act i think tatum has better acting chops

he can fight damn good tho

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

I just don't have it in me to see a film that wants to continue the NINJA ASSASIN franchise in any way. That was one of the most inept martial arts movies I have ever seen. God bless 'em for trying to continue making low budget martial arts films. But I will pass.

 

[Project862006]

this is'nt a ninja assassin franchise this is a sequel to a film called ninja that went straight to dvd

 

[dude stannis]

the first ninja was horrible

too bad scott cant act i think tatum has better acting chops

he can fight damn good tho

I wouldn't say he's worse than Tatum, especially since Tatum has never done anything as good as Uri Boyka, but you can't really display acting chops when you're being directed by guys like Ernie Barbarash and Isaac Florentine in a 15 day shooting schedule.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

this is'nt a ninja assassin franchise this is a sequel to a film called ninja that went straight to dvd

I stand corrected... And elated.

Is the original NINJA any good then? Is it a gem, or just another bad DTDVD crapfest?

 

[Project862006]

ninja assassin is citizen's kane in comparison

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

 

[Project862006]

oh don't get me wrong it has better martial arts and fight scenes due to adkins being an actual martial artist but thats about it

 

[slumcat]

ninja assassin is citizen's kane in comparison

It is "Citizen Kane" not "Citizen's Kane".

Have you seen Citizen Kane by the way?

 

[slumcat]

I stand corrected... And elated.

Is the original NINJA any good then? Is it a gem, or just another bad DTDVD crapfest?

This has nothing to do with that Ninja Assasin film.

Scott Adkins is a direct to DVD star but a hugely popular and very respected. For true action connoisseurs, he has effectively taken on the mantle from Arnie and Sly.

And you watch these films only for action, if you want great writing acting, you can always Lars von Trier or Michael Haneke films.

 

[Teelie]

^^^ Exactly. This isn't the kind of movie that's got a lot of story, characterization or depth. It's shallow and full of action and fancy martial arts moves. The first one excelled at that. I didn't know they were going to do a sequel though.

 

[StarLord]

Some people wanted this guy to be Batman?

 

[Iron_Stark]

Some people wanted this guy to be Batman?

He would've made an awesome Batman, as the stunt double Batman I mean. He has Affleck's chin and some pretty cool moves. They should totally get him for the fight sequences.

 

[slumcat]

I wanted him as Batman and I would have been happier had he been in cast in place of Affleck. But ah well, that ship has sailed now. Let's hope it doesn't sink.

 

[slumcat]

More images released.

 

[Destructus86]

the first ninja was horrible

too bad scott cant act i think tatum has better acting chops

he can fight damn good tho

You don't go into this type of movie for the acting. haha

 

[dude stannis]

Interview with co-star Kane Kosugi.

Interview with Cinematographer Ross Clarkson

They're pretty in depth and interesting reads.

 

[slumcat]

Rave reviews. Without fanboy snobbery that Adkins is beneath them or anything.

http://cinapse.co/2013/09/21/ninja-shadow-of-a-tears-action-glory-is-undisputed/

Ninja: Shadow Of A Tear was my most anticipated of all the movies playing Fantastic Fest 2013. And with those kinds of expectations, you’d think I might have been setting myself up for disappointment. But you’d be thinking incorrectly. I am just coming out of the world premiere of what I’ll stubbornly continue to call Ninja 2 and the film blew the roof off of the auditorium. Spontaneous applause, laughter, and cheers of shock and awe were abundant. And no, they weren’t all coming from me.

But seriously, between my love for director Isaac Florentine and star Scott Adkins’ previous collaborations Undisputed 2 & 3, as well as Ninja 1, and the incredible trailer that had been cut together for Ninja 2, I had a realization that I was potentially wildly miscalculating how much this movie might rule. What if it didn’t live up to that trailer? Would I be crushed emotionally and spiritually? Because the reptile part of my fan-brain took over on this film and I just lost my mind in anticipation for it.

Not only did it not disappoint, but it genuinely ranks among the greatest action movies of our era. After my description of the atmosphere in the theater, it might be easy to write off that previous sentence as the lunatic ramblings of a pre-disposed-to-loving-it fanboy who is letting festival fever sway his judgement. But anyone who has experienced the prior collaborations between Isaac Florentine and Scott Adkins will know that I’m not a lunatic, and that the work they are doing is truly something special.

Florentine and Adkins are almost a perfect storm for action cinema. Adkins is an extremely talented martial artist with the good looks and chiseled physique of the greatest A-listers around. And his acting skills have steadily improved from some of his earliest projects, turning him into a bit of a triple threat. So when Florentine brings his own martial arts training and his incredible vision for action choreography to the table, pointing his camera at a leading man who can perform unholy martial arts mayhem, take-after-take, with no stunt double forcing him to cut out to wide shots or chop the action scene to pieces… you get lightning in a bottle.

The action cinema that this formula brings to the table is something wholly other than what Hollywood is foisting upon us these days. The scale and scope of our modern blockbusters are truly impressive and bring us groundbreaking visuals which are literally out of this world. But often when the action does get tight or close-quartered, many blockbusters go for an intimate, shakey, choppy style to inject a little bit of energy or to conveniently mask their stunt doubles.

Florentine and Adkins aren’t having any of that.

They are bringing us something that feels totally fresh and new, but in reality it is taking us back to fundamental elements. The thrills of these guys’ films come from seeing the human body stretched to it’s limits, and seeing bravura camera work on what you instinctively know is a lower budget film than any big PG-13 action epic from a studio. How these men are doing what they do, on the tight schedule and budget that they had, is nothing short of breathtaking to even borderline fans of action cinema.

I’ve talked a lot about Ninja: Shadow Of A Tear’s director and star, but have barely touched on the story or fight sequences of the film itself. This continuation of Ninja follows our hero Casey to Burma to take out a drug lord who is responsible for the death of Casey’s wife Namiko (Mika Hijii.) He is assisted in his quest by an old friend Nakabara (Kane Kosugi, son of Sho Kosugi!) Although this plot line takes us out of Japan and away from many of the visuals and tropes of the first film, it also provides a perfect platform for Casey to be stripped down to a more brutal and murderous version of the principled, collected, and fresh-faced character from the first film. Here, Casey’s quest for vengeance will offer a brutal and rage-filled man who can only be stopped when the director imposes an epically badass freeze frame on him.
The plot is, in many ways, just a framework to justify a number of phenomenal fight sequences. But even beyond that there is a lean, mean, streamlined nature to the story, and just enough drama and character beats to make it feel like a real movie. And not just a real movie, but an action entry that pays homage to the great Cannon Films of the 1980s and elevates that formula with a key element that was so often missing from the Cannon brand: quality.

And I’m Out.

 

[slumcat]

http://twitchfilm.com/2013/09/fanta...-tear-kicks-ass-then-face-then-ass-again.html

Though the script may not be the most sterling work of literature you've ever come across and the production was forced to work within a strictly limited budget Isaac Florentine's Ninja: Shadow Of A Tear stands as one of the most exciting and engaging American action films in recent years for one very simple reason. Florentine and his star of choice, Scott Adkins, are simply the most potent pairing of director and star working within American action film today. It's the worst kept secret of the film world, really, as the pair have done this now a handful of times with the Undisputed films, in particular, winning a vocal and loyal underground fanbase, but it bears repeating over and over again until the day comes that the mainstream industry takes notice. These guys are really, really good and it's well past time that a major studio took notice and gave them a shot at the big time. But until that happens we'll still have their Millennium Films backed offerings to keep us happy.

The story here is quite simple. Adkins returns as Casey - his American ninjitsu trained character from Florentine's earlier Ninja. Casey is living a simple, happy life in Japan with his beautiful wife Namiko. He's teaching at a dojo. She's expecting their first child. And there's no sign anything could possibly go wrong until a pair of well trained thugs assault Casey in an alley. It's a targeted attack, clearly, and the pair's skill level is far too high to brush it off as a random occurrence but Casey refuses to consider the dark possibilities until it is far too late and Namiko is left dead.

And here's where a very simple rule comes into play. If you know a ninja, don't make him angry. Making him angry is a very bad idea.

Casey seeks refuge with his old friend Nakabara (Kane Kosugi) who spins the American a tale of an old rivalry spun out of control, of a deadly conflict involving Nakabara's own father, Namiko's father and the elder brother of a drug lord named Goro which left Goro's brother dead and Goro himself swearing revenge upon both Nakabara and Namiko's families even if it took generations to carry out. This, says Nakabara, is clearly what has happened. And so Casey sets off to Myanmar to track Goro down on a bloody minded mission of revenge.

Make no mistake a bout it. The script for Ninja 2 is simple, verging on primitive even. Don't come in expecting great art on the printed page. But also make no mistake in overlooking the fact that this is very much by design. With both Florentine and Adkins expressing a certain unhappiness with the first Ninja - both feel it plays too much like a fantasy - when given the opportunity to create a sequel they've opted for a much more grounded, much more lean and efficient approach. And efficient it certainly is, cutting through all the extraneous bit and getting to what fans really want - which is Adkins kicking enormous ass - as quickly as possible. And on that front, hot damn ...

Shot with a single unit over thirty six days - an absolutely tiny time frame for an action film this ambitious - Ninja 2 proves once again that Florentine, himself a well trained martial artist, shoots hand to hand combat better than anybody else working today while Adkins again makes the case that he is one of the absolute best screen fighters in the world, period. Adkins possesses a compelling blend of technical ability, natural charisma and sheer, raw power that makes him a delight to watch on the screen while Florentine knows exactly which buttons to press to get the best out of his star.

With choreography provided by Tim Man - who also appears in one very, very solid fight sequence - Ninja 2 lays on a variety of scenarios for Adkins to work through, from single opponents to multiples, stealthy infiltration to straight forward confrontation, bare hand combat to a variety of weapons. There's a steady escalation to the fight work, the tension and stakes constantly rising, with Florentine and his team taking full advantage of their star's ability to work in long takes to show off his impressive skills. Wires? CGI? None of that here, just pure skill captured with a near perfect blend of real world efficiency and 'Holy crap, did you see what he just did?' style.

Ninja: Shadow of a Tear is a B film to be sure, the stylistic demands that Millennium imposes on their writers with these projects guarantees that, but it's one hell of a fun B film - the sort of film that knows exactly what it is, sets out to be the best damn version of that film that it can possibly be, and succeeds on all levels. Adkins and Florentine should both be well past the point of needing any more calling cards on their resume at this point, but seriously, what the hell is wrong with all you studio people? Every day you fail to give these guys a bigger canvas to play on is a day you make a major mistake. It's time.

 

[dude stannis]

Even girlie man Evan Saathoff liked it;

http://badassdigest.com/2013/09/22/fantastic-fest-review-ninja-shadow-of-a-tear-is-the-new-b-action-champ/

Scott Adkins' Pal: "Remember, the man who seeks revenge must dig two graves."

Scott Adkins' Scott Adkins: "They're gonna need a lot more than that."

That's paraphrased, but still: **** yes. There might be twenty minutes of Ninja: Shadow of a Tear where Scott Adkins is not beating the **** out of someone. He fights while buying necklaces for his wife. He fights while drunk and grumpy like Superman 3. He fights while high on crack. He just gets into a **** load of fights.

And even the film's rare moments of downtime brim with awesome activity. I mean, when one conversation early in the film discusses a spot in a Myanmar jungle where Adkins can find a cache of weapons buried during World War II (not guns, mind you, but cool ninja stuff, like self-assemble swords), the anticipation is almost better than the ass kicking. The same goes for a wonderful sequence in which Adkins goes to a market to buy a bunch of random objects (dolls, fish, etc), only to go home and assemble a bunch of awesome makeshift Ninja weaponry.

Ninja: The Shadow of a Tear is the new B-action King, a bright high point eclipsing former champions Universal Soldier: Regeneration and Undisputed III. There are absolutely no wrong moves in the film. It knows what it wants to be and attacks that goal with an almost aggressive straightforwardness and purity. The Universal Soldier film has to include a bunch of science stuff. Undisputed III has to explain its prison setting. All Ninja: Shadow of a Tear needs to do is kill Scott Adkins' wife. After that, we're on fire until the film ends in glorious freeze-frame.

Given his reputation among action fanatics, it's easy to overlook the fact that not every Isaac Florentine film is an automatic slam dunk. So much goes against these productions, it's no wonder they don't all turn out as well as we'd hope. But when he's on, he's incredible. And Ninja: Shadow of a Tear finds him in top form. Apparently both he and Scott Adkins were disappointed in the first Ninja film. Here they go very far out of their way to right that wrong. This isn't called Ninja 2 for a reason.

This is such a great Scott Adkins role, too. While not as good as his Undisputed III performance, Ninja: Shadow of a Tear gets a lot out of Adkins simply by focusing almost the entire running time on his rage, an emotion he plays really well. There's a great bit where he gets drunk in a bar, eager to belligerently start a random fight with strangers just because. It's a good look for him. On top of that, his insane, dizzying jump kick shenanigans are on a whole new level here. That's a good look for him, too.

I seriously cannot imagine a better action film. Narrative ambition can be very impressive, but that's not really what these films should be going for unless they're really going to nail it (my obligatory Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning mention goes here). Simplicity is key. Ninja: Shadow of a Tear knows this. Scott Adkins is out for revenge. He rips through an entire crime organization to get it (watch out for Only God Forgives' Vithaya Pansringarm as one of the higher up asses that gets kicked). That's it.

And with fights like this that's all you need or would want. It's not hard to see how a relentless series of action sequences might get boring after a while, but Ninja: Shadow of a Tear sidesteps that problem by making each one extraordinary. We all knew Isaac Florentine was kind of the king of these films, but here he totally outdoes himself. These are not just fight scenes, but the best fight scenes, delivered by a martial artist of significant talent (seriously, Adkins does **** here you will not believe), and captured by a director who knows to keep the camera back and edits minimal. There's no moment quite as awesome as Undisputed III's big leg break, but there are about ten that come pretty close. I'll make that trade.

Ninja: Shadow of a Tear is so complete, so perfect, that there's little else to say on the matter. The buzz I got from this film lasted hours. It's so remarkable that in the Q&A afterwards, Undisputed III's Marko Zaror was first to stand up, just to gush at Florentine and Adkins about how amazing the fight scenes were. Then on the way out, he started an unsolicited gushing session with myself and The Dissolve's Matt Singer. We are now all in a committed three way relationship, and we shall always remember Ninja: Shadow of a Tear as not only the year's greatest action film, but the film that brought us together. If Matt or I die, the world better watch the **** out.

Seriously though, this movie is absolutely amazing in the context of B-movie bliss. Everything you want from these films is here, executed with an unprecedented level of skill, old school technique, and clarity. It's incredible.

David J. Moore interviews Isaac Florentine

Frank DeMartini interview.

 

[slumcat]

An A grade rave from Film School Rejects, one of their rare A's for an action film!
http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/reviews/ninja-shadow-of-a-tear.php

American movies are messy, always shot so that you can’t actually see what is going on. I’m paraphrasing Ninja: Shadow of a Tear director Isaac Florentine, whose introduction to the premiere of his new movie at Fantastic Fest came packaged with a mission statement about what martial arts movies should be. In a refreshing and long-winded moment of honesty, the Israeli-born director who has studied martial arts for 40+ years in places like Sweden, spoke about the way the Japanese and Chinese shoot their fight scenes and how that has become a driving force in his visual style. A style on full display as he once again throws British ass-kicker Scott Adkins into the role of an American expatriate ninja warrior whose circumstances force him to seek revenge upon a drug lord in Burma. “The man who seeks revenge should dig two graves,” he’s told.

“They’re going to need a lot more than that,” he responds.

To Florentine’s credit, his words are not just the posturing of a director whose work primarily releases on formats that come wrapped in plastic. He’s not your average B-movie director, just out there having fun and making movies that turn small profits for small companies. He takes the craft of directing action very seriously. The result is a collection of scenes that are incredibly well-framed, brutally executed and choreographed in such a way that they don’t look like an elegant dance, they look like an actual fight. When the ever-impressive Adkins winds up for one of his mid-air summersault vertical roundhouse kicks, the audience feels the full thump of foot to shoulder. We also get to see the entire spectacle in full-view, something many a viewer has complained about with other, larger action movies. Think Michael Bay shooting the close-up hip-angle of Transformers battling in the streets or Robert Rodriguez shooting a mish-mash of CGI blood-soaked anarchy in his Machete series. It’s one thing to have fun, badass characters. Another to have well choreographed battle sequences. But if you shoot them poorly, as Florentine understands better than many of his contemporaries, you ruin it.

The action in Ninja: Shadow of a Tear — of which there is a lot – is akin to the work that Luc Besson and his cabal of French directors did in the early 2000s on The Transporter and District 13 franchises. The fights may be set in one room, but they feel sprawling and monumental. And while Adkins isn’t quite as charismatic as Jason Statham, he is getting there. Shadow of a Tear puts the character of Casey through a number of emotional moments, all of which put Adkins’ developing range as an actor on display. Then again, lets not lie to ourselves. The real reason anyone should be watching a Scott Adkins movie isn’t to see him cry. It’s to see him put on an impressive show of mixed martial arts beat downs. And he does, often and with extreme prejudice.

The story is kept simple — it’s plain ole’ revenge with a few twists — something Florentine did intentionally after what he seems to have felt was a muddled mess in the first Ninja movie. The rogues gallery brings the fight, including Tim Man, the film’s fight choreographer and former Ong Bak stuntman who shows up in the third act and gives Adkins his most heated battle. It all lays out quite predictably and with its share of wooden dialogue, but in the end it’s still one hell of an old school fight film. An authentic Japanese revenge thriller from an Israeli director, his British lead an his Swedish fight choreographer. It’s a worldly affair that absolutely kicks ass.

The Upside: With no disrespect to the Undisputed series, this is perhaps the best collaboration between Scott Adkins and Isaac Florentine yet.

The Downside: You’ve seen this story before, plenty of times.

On the Side: When asked which martial arts actor he’d still love to fight during the film’s Q&A, Adkins said “Donnie Yen.” Now that’s something I’d love to see happen, and soon.

 

[slumcat]

Another Rave.
http://renegadecinema.com/15419/ninja-shadow-tear-review-fantastic-fest

It’s quite possible (maybe even likely) that you’ve never heard of Isaac Florentine. It’s even more likely that you’ve seen some of his work. I had never realized that this man was behind one of the most important things in my childhood, The Power Rangers. He directed numerous episodes from the original series as well as Power Rangers Zero,Power Rangers In Space and a swarm of other work in the series. Once I learned that, I was pretty sure Ninja Shadow Of A Tear was going to be a special experience. It was – in a big way. It was classic B movie ninja fare, and I wolfed it down.

Scott Adkins is Casey the leader of the Koga Ninja dojo (no this has nothing to do with The Kouga Ninja Scrolls). When his wife is murdered by, guess who . . . That’s right! Ninjas! Casey must put aside his life of peace and return to form as the killing machine he once was. It is such a rad killing machine. Adkins displays incredible physical talent and mastery of a litany of fighting techniques. Each and every action he takes is captured in long shots reminiscent of old, Chinese fight films like Enter The Dragon and Fists Of Fury. The movie will not let you forget the incredible training involved with its production.

Casey journeys first to Thailand and the jungles of Burma. In both countries, there are people just itching to fight this physically imposing man. In Thailand, he reunites with his former training buddy Nakabara. Nakabara tells Casey the story of Goro a drug dealer in Burma who left wounds from his trademark barbed wire whip on the lifeless throat of Casey’s wife. Casey launches into his vengeance quest with aplomb. Journeying into the jungle Casey stumbles upon a buried cache of weapons and singlehandedly raids Goro’s base. What ensues is awesome. Unadulterated awesome mainlined to the bloodstream.

Isaac Florentine is Walter White. He had everyone in the theater addicted. After the screening Florentine mentioned that in most American action films, it’s hard to tell where anything is or who is fighting whom during the action sequences. Credit to Florentine for being 100% correct. We’ve all seen Michael Bay’s work, but he’s not the only one. Most modern action cinema is shot at top speed. There is a bigger emphasis on giving the appearance of action than actually producing a coherent sequence of events. Florentine’s film refuses to fall into that trap.

Every single fight has an extraordinary sense of geography. The collisions, the destroyed objects, even the victims, are established clearly in advance. This makes every fight immersive. It’s hard to say much about this movie that isn’t just heaping praise on the combat, but there’s a lot to say. Even the weakest of the antagonists, you know the ones that just get tossed around like beanie babies in a playpen, move with powerful body language. Everything about the violence is the movie is deliberate and perfectly executed. Even the use of weapons, an aspect that is often imbalanced in contemporary fight films, is impeccable. The film is coming to video on demand soon. While there’s not a lot of thematic or intellectual work going on in Ninja Shadow Of A Tear, it’s great for a late night watch. Even Florentine endorsed it as something in the realm of the midnight movie.

8.5/10

 

[slumcat]

Scott Adkins interview with Crave Online. One of the most physically gifted and talented men working in cinema today.
http://www.craveonline.com/film/int...t-2013-scott-adkins-on-ninja-shadow-of-a-tear

Crave Online: How is your ACL now?
Scott Adkins: It’s fixed, yes. I had the surgery in December 2011, had to take off at least seven months which I was able to do. I couldn’t do an action film for seven months because I wanted to make sure it was properly rehabbed. So I did that film [Tomb of the Dragon] with Dolph Lundgren which is a family adventure film. There’s no action. Then I had a small part in Zero Dark Thirty, and then my first action film back was November/December 2012 which was Green Street 3.

So that was before Ninja: Shadow of a Tear?
That was before Ninja. I flew out on New Year’s Day 2013 to do Ninja in Thailand.

Did you re-injure yourself on this?
I hurt my back.

A different injury?
Yeah, you always get injured. Some films you get injured worse than others. The back one was pretty bad actually. It put me out of action. I was in a lot of pain for the whole rest of the shoot. I did one week free of injury and then the rest of it I was just in a lot of pain.

Thank you for going the distance for us.
Yeah, it’s all right.

Were you also disappointed by the first Ninja?
Yes, we both were very disappointed. The action was not as dynamic as the Undisputed films and the lead character of Casey was very bland. We wanted to make the second much more gritty and take Casey to a darker place so that he is much more proactive rather than reactive. We wanted to give Casey a bit more of an edge.

When you kick another fighter’s kick, is that really hard to land?
Nooo, because you can get padded up if it’s your shins and stuff. You know you’re going to probably have to do it 10 or 15 times. No, it’s not so bad if you’ve got control. Luckily Tim Man has a lot of control.

Which of the fights in Ninja: Shadow of a Tear took the longest?
The longest one was the end fight. That was three days. I think we lost a little bit of time though because we went over a little bit with drama at the end of it. Most of the fights were two days. Some of them were one.

So the one take fight in the dojo took less than three days?
That was just one day because you’ve only got to do it once. We just did a little bitty scene before it, then rehearsed it and we shot it about nine takes. I think we used the fifth or sixth or seventh take.

Doing nine in a day sounds like a lot.
That was tough actually. I need to work on my cardio.

Are the sticks and the swords in the finale your weapons of choice?
My weapon of choice is the nunchuck. I do like the bo as well which I use, the staff. I’m not so good with the sword but I picked a lot of stuff up on Ninja 1 with the sword.

Was the fire walk a little bit of movie magic?
Definitely. Paper maché or something. I didn’t do that for real. I try to do most of my own stunts but I had a little bit of help from the special effects guys on that one.

I think you got to fight Vithaya Pansringarm more than Ryan Gosling did in Only God Forgives.
Yeah, I don’t know what the fuss was about. He was easy. I killed God. He was easy. No, he’s a great guy. I’m really happy to have him in the movie.

There are so many fights, what was the percentage of fighting versus acting?
There was a hell of a lot of fighting. I remember one week I had to do three fights. Two of them were two days so that’s four days and there was a one-day one. That’s five days in a six-day week. It was a tough week.

When you fight with no shirt on, that means you have no pads on either, right?
Yeah. That’s how I hurt my back actually. That double kick I do onto the guy through the doorway, we maybe did three or four takes of it. I just had to land flat on my back on concrete. That’s when my back first started to hurt and then it was the next week that something happened and it snapped.

I don’t think you see the ground in that shot. They couldn’t lay a pad down?
You do see the ground, yeah. You do see the ground. They did put a little thin pad down but to be honest, it didn’t really make much of a difference.

Do breakaway tables still hurt?
No. Not after you’ve fought with Marko Zaror.

CraveOnline: Do you want Casey to be happy eventually?
Scott Adkins: No, keep him angry and hurting people.

Was doing the angry fight in the bar dramatically challenging as well as physically?
Not so much. How much do you play being drunk and how much do you concentrate on the fighting, which is really hard to do. I’ve got even more respect for Jackie Chan now with his Drunken Master fighting.

I didn’t even mean playing drunk, but the idea that Casey is losing control in that scene and it’s showing the state of his character during the fight.
You try and show it in the moments in between the fighting. When you’re actually doing the choreography, to be honest it’s so meticulous and difficult, I find it best to be very concentrated on the actual fighting part of it. Then you can find bits for the drama in between when it slows down a little bit.

That’s good to hear actually, you focus on one thing at a time.
Obviously, you’re always acting when you’re doing it but it’s so difficult just to get the choreography right, you need to be very concentrated on that.

What did you play in Hercules 3D?
I’m King Amphitryon who is the stepfather of Hercules.

Did Renny Harlin want to use your moves?
I don’t think they want me to talk about Hercules.

Okay, so you can’t even say if you fight?
There’s action. Yeah, I do action. There’s plenty of action.

How about Green Street 3?
Green Street 3, I really love this film. It’s the first British film I’ve ever done. Being British it’s about time. I’ve been in the business 13 years. It’s a hooligan movie. It sets up a situation where the government have banned fighting in the terraces which has actually happened. In the ‘80s it was happening all the time in England. Now not so much because the government has cracked down on it. So it’s kind of gone underground.
Let’s say Aston Villa are going to face West Ham this weekend. The firms from each respective team will meet up at a secret location to go at it five against five, and if you win you get a point and if you lose you get nothing. They’ve got a league table and everything. But what happens is my character was like an uber hooligan from the ‘80s, got into a lot of trouble with the police, has moved up to Scotland. He’s living up there, he’s a fight trainer and he’s got his own gym. His little brother who he left in London has got into the scene and he turns up dead. So the character that I play, Danny, comes back to London to find out what happened to his brother and inevitably gets pulled back into this whole new aspect of underground hooligan fighting.

Are those more like brawls than choreographed fighting?
It’s all choreographed but we’ve made it more brawly. In the trailer they show a lot of martial arts but that’s just because they’ve put a lot of those moments in there. It’s more hooligan brawling than martial arts but my character is a martial artist. I know people that are martial artists that are cage fighters that also fight over the weekend in the football [firms] so it’s not as far fetched as you might think.
You know, the deal for that was done at Fantastic Fest last year. James Nunn directed it, who was here last year with Tower Block. I had a meeting with him before I came out. When we came out, over a few beers, we made the deal to do Green Street together and I’m really glad I did. He’s a great young director that’s going to do well.

Isaac said Undisputed IV is being written. Are they using the ideas you had for Boyka?
I hope they’re going to use my ideas. Sometimes we’re not in control of the script, but I hope they listen to my ideas because I feel like I know Boyka inside out.

In the Q&A you mentioned Donnie Yen as someone you’d like to fight in a movie. Are you excited by any of the Indonesian guys that are coming out now with The Raid movies?
Yeah, absolutely but I say Donnie Yen because he’s a peer to me. He’s older than me, I look up to him. Tony Jaa is my age and Iko [Uwais]’s younger than me, so it’s like [Yen]’s always been there and somebody I’ve always wanted to work with. That would mean getting beaten up by him which is fine, but with the others I’d have to beat them up. I’m only joking.

I will make sure that translates in print. What are your favorite movie fights?
Best fight ever in a movie, They Live. I want to do a martial arts version of that, where you think it’s ended and it just keeps on going. I love that fight. It was funny as well. Unexpected. “You sneaky mother****er!”
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