Movie Shredder is a Japanese warlord, not a ninja

[Panda_Kahn_fan]

All right, after having seen the movie myself, and seeing what the characters do, how they fight, et. I've come to the conclusion that movie shredder is not a ninja in this movie- but rather, that he sees himself as a self-styled, feudal Japanese warlord. My evidence?

-Nowhere, in the entire movie are the Foot Clan called ninjas. They are only called a criminal organization that hailed from Japan orginally. A japanese clan with a lot of foriegn adoptees, yes. But not ninja!

-The foot soldiers use of non-ninja weapons and tactics. There is no stealth, no shadow fighting. They threaten people with guns, and make no effort to hide in the shadows. Even Karai is more military than ninja.

-Motivation. A ninja clan would be out to make a profit by selling it's mercenary services to the higest bidder. Ororke Saki here is trying to take over the city- and fighting in a mechanized suit of Samurai-like armor, too boot.

An armored clan leader, who wants power, with an army of trained soldiers doing his bidding. This in no way sounds like a ninja master, but it fits the description of a modern take on a Sengoku-era warlord to a T.Sure, he may know martial arts, but that armor is more for sci-fi samruai style combat than ninjitsu.

Now before you think I'm hating on the movie, I actually LIKE this idea. In both folklore and history, Ninja clans rarely fought with other ninja clans, unless they were working for opposing daimyos that hired them. More often, thier true targets were the evil warlord whom the villagers scraped together enough money to hire the ninja to kill them, or one Daimyo who wanted a rival dead, and hired a ninja clan to elimate him.

So casting Shredder as a warlord who knows martial arts is entirely fitting. Add to the fact the turtles knowledge of ninjitsu is not tied to the foot clan here, and there is no need for the foot to be ninja to begin with. With the new movie, you have the very Japanese concept of four ninja being raised to take down the evil warlord plauging the people- an idea mentioned in both the 'legend of the yokai' video, and Sachs's little speech about the warlord from feudal japan who poisioned the water supply (and I think both warlords may actually be Saki himself, kept alive through the power of the mutagen).

I leave this idea here for your consideration.