Empire of Assassins

"We crushed the 10 major martial arts schools, no one will dare oppose us now." Years after his family is killed Zhang (Tse) finally finds who he has been looking for, the murderer. The only problem is that it is his brother who he must defeat in order to get to him. Not being a huge fan of martial arts type movies I did think that this one looked good in the preview. What I found was a very low budget movie that was not that enjoyable. I will say that of the ones that I have seen have Jet Li and Jackie Chan in them, and the quality of action between them and the lesser known actors is huge. The choreography is very poor, and looks just short of what a school play would be like. The movie did have some pretty cheesy parts but the story was good. The only problem is that the bad action takes away from the story, it may have been better if the left the fighting out actually. Also, I don't usually comment on the technical aspects of the DVD, like camera work etc... but the dubbing (I watched the original Chinese version) was so bad that the mouths didn't match the sounds. I can understand if they are off in the English dubbing, but not the original. It was almost so bad that you found yourself thinking about that instead of the movie. I don't know if it says more about the sound or the movie itself. Overall, maybe hardcore martial arts fans will like this. I did not. I say C.

Would I watch again? - No I won't *Also try - Warrior's Way & Fearless

The only reason I gave this movie a rating of 1 is because there is no option to give it a ZERO. A monkey could have directed better fight scenes. The story was horrid and made absolutely no sense. The "acting" is worse than a school play put on by 6 year old children. The cinematography was laughable. The ending was as if whoever wrote the script had no clue how to end the movie, so they just decided to destroy part of the set and then cash out. Even if you get the chance to see this movie for free, choose to be punched in the groin numerous times instead. The pain of the punches to your genitalia will pale in comparison to the pain you will undergo from watching this steaming pile of feces. I only wish there was a way to go back in time and punch MYSELF in the groin numerous times to stop myself from watching this. If it were possible to file a class action lawsuit against a movie-maker (and I use that term very loosely in the case of this "movie") I'd sue the hell out of every single person involved in creating this filth. Their families should bow their heads in shame that a member of the family was involved in this crap.

Empire of Assassins is not actually a "movie" at all, but an abridged version of a Chinese TV series. Many people here have commented on the poor production values, but I think they are selling the series short. The production values are actually quite high for television, and aside from the fact that it's shot on (rather good looking) digital video instead of film, the costumes, editing, cinematography, fights, etc... are all easily par with an average 1990's style Hong Kong Wuxia movie. I've seen a few of these adapted TV series before, and this one looks better than most, honestly. The dubbing seems "off" because even in China, these series are often shot without sound, and all dialogue and sound effects are added later.

However, all of that can't save the plot from being fragmented and oversimplified, since it's been cut down from an original that would have been many, many hours longer. It helps to know what you're dealing with... this is NOT a lavish cinematic affair like CROUCHING TIGER or HERO. This is a condensed version of a cheap little TV action drama... and in that sense it not so bad if you're looking for a little bit of that retro wire-fu action. Think of it as Saturday morning cartoons, with more blood and exotic weapons. :)

This is a very bad Chinese martial arts movie with a very stupid simple-minded 1-dimensional screenplay and scenario. The fighting sequences are so stupid and ridiculous. The guy tried to revenge for his family, sometimes very dominant and strong, sometimes very weak, making me feel very confused to determine he's really strong enough to successfully seek revenge. The worst thing is the ridiculous English voice over, especially when they say their Chinese names. The sound effect is also so formulaic with lot of Ah, He, An...grunts. The endless fighting scenes are just too much and over the top. The acting of all the actors, especially the young actress, my Lord, are so bad.

This is a very tiresome 1-dimensional stupid movie and worsened by the stupid English voice-over.

I watched this as my husband shopped Amazon for better movies (he said he gave up on it with the first line). Note to self: don't buy used movies impulsively. The acting was some of the worst I've seen. The fight scenes are done very slowly. Ostensibly, so you can appreciate the choreography - more likely, to help the actors make the moves. The amount of dust present in the 'palace' and on the fighters was astounding. Watch for the sword that wiggles with the accompanying sound. The daughter's English voice does not match the actress. Now for some positive feedback...hmm...let's see - some of the headdresses are interesting. The clothing of the father and material shimmer nicely in the light. There is a cool dragon emblem in the father's bedchamber. You will be hard-pressed to find worse dialog or translations. With a better script, talented martial artists and far better actors, this could have been a good movie