Wu Assassins

Wu-Assassins was a lot better than I expected it to be and much better than the 6.4 rating it has. It's about a San Francisco chef (Iko Uwais) who becomes the latest in a line of assassins chosen to keep the mystical Wu powers out of the hands of evil people. It has plenty of martial arts and action with great fight scenes. It's not a perfect show but it is entertaining. People seem to be all over the place on it, a lot of people either love it or hate it. I'm one of the people who liked it and was hoping for another season! Even though a second season never came it was popular enough that they did make movie to finish up the story. Iko Uwais is one of the best martial artists in the world and so fun to watch!

The effects suck big time. The acting could be better. I had more expectations from the lead actor as he is ranked quite high for his roles in the Raid movie series. Somehow the hip hop tracks don't just fit in with the mood or scene. Honestly don't know how it has such a high rating.

I gave this a 6 but it doesn't deserve that. But - on the other hand I don't want the movie execs to think "oh - people don't like martial arts tv shows".

I do love martial arts shows. "Warrior", "Into the Badlands", "Daredevil". They can be made.

But this is just silly. The CGI is (very) low budget and low talent.

The stunt coordination is not worthy of skilled people like Dacascos and Uwais.

The use of stock footage, stock sounds and music is too much.

The story is good, but it's told in a really condescending way.

I sooo wanted to see Dascasos in a TV show. I was disapointed.

It's got Katheryn Winnick finally given a chance to show off her karate chops, it's got Iko Uwais doing his wooden acting with fantastic martial arts and... It's got fireballs! If you like Oriental themed stories with great martial arts, the B-gradeness of everything can be forgiven, it's entertaining enough.

I really enjoyed Wu Assassins. The plot is a little out there... kind of like what you would expect from an anime series. But it's filled with lots of lore to explore, and characters I want to see more of.

The only big problem I have is with the digital effects. They're pretty bad... it's almost kind of funny. A good comparison would be the Mortal Kombat films from the 90's. Just like that!

Bottom line, it's a fun, mystical, action thriller that needs some more seasons to flesh out what it brought to the table.

(Oh, and if you're reading this and have connections to the show, please don't waste an easter egg of Katheryn Winnick watching and rooting for a Minnesota "Vikings" game)