This new trailer for KITE is totally into you

Much like how it’s really not a good thing for an actor to be typecast, so too directors should always vary their work. Do the same thing over and over again, and you could end up like Michael Bay, hated on critics while his movies make more money than most countries’ GDP– and you know what? Bad example.

The point is that you shouldn’t restrict your creativity. So for example, if your last movie was a South African gangland crime drama set against the backdrop of the fall of Apartheid, then for your next film why not do an adaptation of an ultra violent, highly sexualized Japanese animated movie from the 1990’s all about a teenage girl assassin and her snarky police guardian shooting up a dystopian future? And hey, you can even shoot it in Johannesburg, the very epitome of dystopia!

That’s exactly what local director Ralph Ziman has gone and done with manga/anime adaptation Kite, for which the Jerusalem director procured the services of none other than that badass motherf#%er Samuel L. Jackson as previously mentioned snarky cop. Girl assassin is played by The Secret Life of an American Teenager star India Eisley, who appears to not be shying away from the film’s action or risque elements, as seen in this first official full trailer, even if it’s nowhere near as explicit as the infamous original movie was.

The rest of the trailer does show off a movie that clearly is straining against its reduced budget, and there’s also one very groan-worthy piece of line delivery from Jackson close to the end of it, but this could have potential if the story holds up well enough.

Kite is a character-driven action film that charts the story of Sawa, portrayed by India Eisley, a young woman living in a failed state, post-financial collapse, where the corrupt security force profits on the trafficking of young women. When her father, a cop, is killed, Sawa vows to track the murderer down with the help of her father’s ex-partner, Karl Aker as played by Samuel L. Jackson.

And before anybody says it, the original manga predates Mark Millar’s creation of Hit-Girl (Chloe Moretz’s character in Kick-Ass) by nearly a decade, so no, this is not a ripoff.

Kite also stars Callan McAuliffe, Cleo Rinkwest, Russel Savadier, Keci Eatock, Matthew Van Leeve and Jaco Muller. It hits DirecTV on August 28, before getting a limited theatrical release on October 10, 2014.

Last Updated: July 18, 2014