Le règne des assassins

Reign of Assassins is a delightfully well made wuxia movie which will offer those familiar with previous entries in the genre everything they would expect; from vibrant visuals to elegantly choreographed swordplay and the fair share of melodrama which has become an integral part of this genre. I won't dive into plot details because there aren't a whole lot of them for me spend here, the plot synopsis which is provided on this site and others should give any viewer a good idea about the movies proceedings.

Director Su Chao-Pin and veteran filmmaker John Woo exhibit considerable command when juggling the films tone between dramatic seriousness and lighthearted romance whilst ensuring smooth transitions between the two and creating an equilibrium between exposition and action with none overshadowing the other. Actress Michelle Yeoh remains as charismatic as ever while playing the lead role with confidence and effectiveness and contributes greatly to the movies more dramatic scenes.

Overall, fans and familiars of the genre are guaranteed a great time with Reign of Assassins, those who do not enjoy wuxias in general should steer clear of this one as well.

The Dark Stone gang is tracing the remains of a Buddhist priest, because the rumour is that the person who owns those remains will rule over the kung fu world. One of the assassins kills the person who owns half of the corpse, and then makes off with it, thereby betraying her gang. She then meets Wisdom, a martial arts master turned monk, who teaches her that her deed was wrong; she therefore seeks a physician who can change her face for her, turning her into Zeng Jing (the lovely Michelle Yeoh). In her new identity, she becomes a fabric merchant in the big city, where she meets and falls in love with messenger Jiang A-sheng (Woo-sung Jung); soon they marry and appear to have a tranquil life together. But all is not as it seems; not only is Zeng Jing not who she says she is, but neither is Jiang A-sheng, and in the meantime her old gang, among others, continues to search for their erstwhile companion - and the remains of the monk....

This 2010 film was Michelle Yeoh's first wuxia film since the acclaimed "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," and she is as beautiful and graceful as ever, playing a rather complex character who is adept at hiding who she really is, yet capable of sincerely falling in love even when she's, perhaps first and foremost, a killer. The martial arts fights are amazing, but never silly-looking, and the supporting characters are all well-drawn, including a young woman brought into the gang to take Zeng Jing's place, a "magician" who uses both martial arts and magic to defeat his enemies, and the leader of the Dark Stone gang, a eunuch who wants nothing more than to be a "real man," yet who is more skilled a fighter then all of them. Must of this story takes place in city-scapes and at night, so we don't have the lovely landscapes sometimes seen in historical martial arts films, but with Yeoh illuminating the screen with her graceful presence, who needs mere trees and mountains?

In the Ming Dynasty, there was a legend about the mystical powers of the missing remains of an Indian Buddhist monk that would be capable to heal anything and would become a great kung-fu fighter.

When the leader of the Dark Stone gang Cao Feng (Xueqi Wang) discovers that Prime Minister Zhang possesses half of the powerful remains, he sends a team of assassins to kill the minister and his son Zhang Renfeng (Xiaodong Guo). However, the skilled Xi Yu (Kelly Lin) flees with the remains and kills Renfeng, who fall off a bridge in a river. Then Xi Yu meets the monk Wisdom that advises her that she has four flaws fighting with her sword and she might be killed by Cao Feng that has trained her.

Xi Yu goes to the renowned plastic surgeon Dr. Li that changes her face and she decides to start a new life in a small village. She assumes the identity of Zeng Jing (Michelle Yeoh) and poses of merchant, and soon she marries the quiet and clumsy Jiang A-sheng (Woo-sung Jung). When there is a robbery in the local bank, Zeng Jing is forced to fight to protect her and her husband from being killed, disclosing her skills to Cao Feng. Now he sends Lei Bin (Shawn Yue), Lian Sheng (Leon Dai) and Ye Zhanqing (Barbie Hsu), who are his three best assassins, to retrieve the remains and kill Zeng Jing and her beloved husband.

The talented Michelle Yeoh is one of the most beautiful Chinese actresses and her movies are usually great. In "Jianyu", a.k.a. "Reign of Assassins", we have not only Michelle Yeoh, but also the hands of John Woo. The result is a great film of the genre, with predictable but not less engaging twists and a romantic conclusion.

The choreography of sword fights is breathtaking and the music score is wonderful. Fans of the genre will certainly adore the awarded "Jianyu". My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Reino dos Assassinos" ("Reign of the Assassins")

This review does not contain any spoilers.

As a born and bred Chinese, I have seen my share of Chinese Martial arts movies. The Reign of Assassins gave me the feeling of watching one of the great classics. It's story is not the most original, but it gives a nice background for the viewer to see the beautiful acting and action scenes. At times it's a love story at others a suspense flick with all the intrigue. The actors do a good job in conveying their emotions to the audience. Most of the characters get fleshed out, so your not only interested in the main characters. Story wise I have to say that some of the things were a bit confusing, but if you paid attention it all made sense.

The action scenes are plenty and well choreographed. The fighting was made believable, nothing was over the top. I especially liked how the action sometimes slows down just to show the viewer how things are done. This brings the action more to life and you actually notice all the small gestures the actors need to make in order to sway or dodge an attack.

Overall I liked the movie and I highly recommend fans of the genre to watch it. I surely enjoyed it.

English Title: Reign Of Assassins Original Title: Jianyu Year: 2010 Country: China Language: Mandarin Genre: Action Director: Chao-Bin Su Writers: Chao-Bin Su Cast: Michelle Yeoh Woo-sung Jung Xueqi Wang Kelly Lin Shawn Yue Barbie Hsu Leon Dai Hee Ching Paw Yiyan Jiang Zonghan Li Xiaodong Guo Pace Wu Matt Wu Feixia Wu Rating: 7/10

My gut feeling after the first view of this film is mixed with some relief and a shred of disappointment. Last year, it was propagandized as a John Woo's work in order to infuse some incentive into this star-studded kung-fu film to conquer the local cinemas. Shamefully this trick stumbled quite severely as it was largely overshadowed by DETECTIVE DEE (2010) at the box office with the same release period (during Chinese National Day, October 2010).

Its reviews were generally favored though, which should be merited to Chao-Bin Su, the real man behind-the-wheel and whose previous director works SILK (2006) and BETTER THAN SEX (2002) have won him some reputation as a gifted and emerging Taiwan director.

As a Chinese, the fact is that we tend to be immune from domestic Kung-fu films much more than foreigners, because since our infancy, we haven been surrounding and tested by myriad films like these, so it is difficult to make a fuss about it unless there is truly something special in it.

So speaking of this film, in spite of that it has many plot holes which doesn't make sense (even in the time of Jiang Hu, to name a few, our heroine's initial motivation of stealing the half buddha body in the first place; the plausibility of face-lifting technology; the sudden intensifying kung-fu mastery of our hero, etc.), the film converges some genuine talent to entertain its audience, especially the dreamlike cinematography successfully builds a ruthless world of Jiang Hu as well as its innovative fighting design which embodies each main character their own personality.

The cast is solid for an action film, it's the first time since CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON (2000), Michelle Yeoh finally collected a decent leading role as a martial fighter, which is well-done too judging by the criterion of acting. I do have high expectation of her to take a leap in the upcoming Aung San Suu Kyi's bio-pic THE LADY (directed by Luc Besson).

To sum up, I am pleased to watch this film and sincerely hope Su will become a big name in the near future.