Ninja Assassin is a 2009 German-American neo-noir martial arts thriller film directed by James McTeigue. The story was written by Matthew Sand, with a screenplay by J. Michael Straczynski. The film stars South Korean pop musician Rain as a disillusioned assassin looking for retribution against his former mentor, played by ninja film legend Sho Kosugi. Ninja Assassin explores political corruption, child endangerment and the impact of violence. Known for their previous work on the Matrix Trilogy and V for Vendetta, Lana and Lilly Wachowski, Joel Silver, and Grant Hill produced the film.