[Movie Review] 剑雨 （Reign of Assassins）
Being a fan of the martial arts genre, I was immediately keen to watch the new movie Reign of Assassins staring Michelle Yeoh as soon as I saw the movie poster on magazines and I must say the show does not disappoint.
The plot was pretty normal.
A monk who had spent years learning and wisdom of Buddha and skills in combat was know for his skills. After his dead it was rumoured that his body holds the secrets of his knowledge and whoever owns the body would inherit the knowledge and rule the pugilist world. During the many years that the corpse were being fought for, it was split into 2 and it has came to to the knowledge of the Wheel King(转轮王）, Leader of a assassin group called "Black Stone' that a prominent officer (Zhang)of the Imperial court has come into possession of on the halves.
The movie starts off with the Zhang residences being attacked by the trained assassins of Black Stone as they attempt to snatch the half of the body. Which they succeed and the body came into the possession of Drizzle (although the chinese name 细雨 sounds more poetic）a trained assassin of Black Stone. However instead of giving it to her leader, she takes off with it, having grown tired of her current life, undergoes medical procedures to get a new face and I hope a new life. And for a while, she manages to.
All in all it was a enjoyable movie (albeit slight dubious underlying plot aside (i will leave this for movie viewers to find out)).
For a wuxia fan, the choreography of fights were superb. More traditionally down to earth of using wires and stun man instead of exaggeration moves employed with the use of CG. Overall it makes the fights feel real without excessive use of qigong. Despite the movie being 2 hours long, it did not feel draggy, as we watched the love story pan out, a simple courtship, nothing too flashy very ancient China feel.
I particular like the twist about the husband who turned out to be a man that she supposedly killed(Although all the while I thought her husband was only a man with a grudge against Black Stone). Turns out husband was the son of Zhang and survived a sword through his heart because his heart was born on the right instead of left (haven't see the "organ born on reverse position" card played in wuxia movies for sometime) and is avenging for his father's death.
Although I would say that it is sad that there is little character development for the other minor characters, 雷彬 and 彩戏师. especially what seems like friendship between the top 3 assassins of Black Stone. I feel that the two could use a little more screen time.
And lastly can someone explain to me what the heck is Barbie Hsu character doing (I dislike her that much that I can't remember the character's name)? All she does is try to seduce man and then kill them? Her lack of affect makes her a good assassin i guess, but her personality makes her a bad HIRED assassin. and she annoys the heck out of me, and personally I don't feel she makes a difference to the plot anyway so her screen time should go to 雷彬 and 彩戏师.
I would say that this show is definitely worth the watch even if you pay $10 for weekends and more for popcorns.
Lastly I quote from the movie 「不久之后我将会变成真正的男人。」
*sniggers*
The plot was pretty normal.
A monk who had spent years learning and wisdom of Buddha and skills in combat was know for his skills. After his dead it was rumoured that his body holds the secrets of his knowledge and whoever owns the body would inherit the knowledge and rule the pugilist world. During the many years that the corpse were being fought for, it was split into 2 and it has came to to the knowledge of the Wheel King(转轮王）, Leader of a assassin group called "Black Stone' that a prominent officer (Zhang)of the Imperial court has come into possession of on the halves.
The movie starts off with the Zhang residences being attacked by the trained assassins of Black Stone as they attempt to snatch the half of the body. Which they succeed and the body came into the possession of Drizzle (although the chinese name 细雨 sounds more poetic）a trained assassin of Black Stone. However instead of giving it to her leader, she takes off with it, having grown tired of her current life, undergoes medical procedures to get a new face and I hope a new life. And for a while, she manages to.
All in all it was a enjoyable movie (albeit slight dubious underlying plot aside (i will leave this for movie viewers to find out)).
For a wuxia fan, the choreography of fights were superb. More traditionally down to earth of using wires and stun man instead of exaggeration moves employed with the use of CG. Overall it makes the fights feel real without excessive use of qigong. Despite the movie being 2 hours long, it did not feel draggy, as we watched the love story pan out, a simple courtship, nothing too flashy very ancient China feel.
I particular like the twist about the husband who turned out to be a man that she supposedly killed(Although all the while I thought her husband was only a man with a grudge against Black Stone). Turns out husband was the son of Zhang and survived a sword through his heart because his heart was born on the right instead of left (haven't see the "organ born on reverse position" card played in wuxia movies for sometime) and is avenging for his father's death.
Although I would say that it is sad that there is little character development for the other minor characters, 雷彬 and 彩戏师. especially what seems like friendship between the top 3 assassins of Black Stone. I feel that the two could use a little more screen time.
And lastly can someone explain to me what the heck is Barbie Hsu character doing (I dislike her that much that I can't remember the character's name)? All she does is try to seduce man and then kill them? Her lack of affect makes her a good assassin i guess, but her personality makes her a bad HIRED assassin. and she annoys the heck out of me, and personally I don't feel she makes a difference to the plot anyway so her screen time should go to 雷彬 and 彩戏师.
I would say that this show is definitely worth the watch even if you pay $10 for weekends and more for popcorns.
Lastly I quote from the movie 「不久之后我将会变成真正的男人。」
*sniggers*