Tong que tai

THE ASSASSINS should be a good film, but it isn't. It's an expensive, expansive Chinese historical drama, featuring the great Chow Yun-Fat in a role which must be a given for him: he's playing the ruthless general Cao Cao, a guy who engaged in and won plenty of battles in the famous Three Kingdoms period. And yet the film chooses a moment at the end of his life to tell a sluggish and rather dull story of a love triangle and hidden romance.

The film looks lavish, for sure, and Yun-Fat gives a solid turn as always. The costumes and sets bring to mind the sumptuous nature of Zhang Yimou's CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER, but there the similarities end. The problem is that THE ASSASSINS isn't really about assassins at all, because these characters achieve very little in the storyline. The main character, played by Liu Yi Fei, is completely dull and goes around moping and crying all the while as she falls in love with Yun-Fat's character. Come the end you realise she's made no impact to the storyline and could easily have been excised with no ill effect.

In a bid to counter all this sentimentality, the film-makers throw in a handful of decent action sequences in which the heroic general fends off various attacks by his rivals, including the Emperor. These moments mean that the film isn't bad as a whole, but it's a far cry from what it could have been with a script re-write. There are also some ludicrous scenes which drag it down, such as the one where a horse happily jumps off a cliff.

Over the years Chow Yun-Fat has transitioned from his signature John Woo style gun toting action films to these period style epics. He has always brought a presence with him to every role that delivers something special. His latest film The Assassins continues with these period pieces to attempt to deliver something new.

The Assassins follows the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history and focuses on the warlord Cao Cao in his old age and the relationship between him and his son, while planning to take the throne and avoid assassins. Visually this movie, much like the others that come from this film market, is beautiful to look at. The performances are all great, with Chow Yun-Fat in top form, but nothing that really stands out to take this film to the next level. With the focus of these young people being trained as assassins and the amount of corruption showcased in this film, you would expect a decent amount of action, but sadly that's not the case. Everything from the box art, the synopsis, and the look screams action, but is a bit misleading. This movie focuses more on the political side of things and the family drama leaving a fairly uneventful film. It's not boring or anything just tends to creep along with little to nothing really happening. There are a couple of characters that are rather annoying, but it's hard to tell if it is the actor's performance of the dubbed voice.

This isn't a horrible movie; it just didn't deliver much as a whole. If you go into it ready for a dialogue driven political drama then you will not be disappointed, but just know that it does get a bit convoluted at times. Fans of Chow Yun-Fat will want to give it a view as he is the best part of this whole film.

Review: This us another one of those confusing Oriental movies that are hard to follow but the main concept is quite simple, everyone wants to murder Cao Cao (Chow Yun-Fat). There's also a love story running throughout the movie which is pretty straight forward but the rest of the storyline, went straight over my head. When the true reason, why Cao Cao is so evil, is revealed, I honestly didn't understand what the movie was truly about but it scores top marks for authenticity and cinematography, like many of the other Oriental movies I have watched lately. The costumes are truly amazing, especially Cao Cao's detailed armour and I'm happy to say that the DVD carries a dubbed version, so you don't have to worry about annoying subtitles. The action scenes were also impressive because they seemed real for that day and age but I really don't know why the director had to over complicate the storyline. Anyway, it's a watchable film, mainly for the great performance from Yun-Fat and the fear that he put in the people around him but the ending was a right mess. Watchable! 

Round-Up: This is the only movie directed by Linshan Zhao so it's hard to compare her other projects to this one but the writer, Bin Wang, also wrote House of Flying Daggers and Hero with Jet Li. I'm beginning to realise that a lot of these Oriental directors, certainly like to over complicate there movies with pointless detail which is, usually unnecessary. Maybe it's because I'm used to basic concepts from the Western market, why I'm finding it hard to get to grips with the these detailed story lines and I must admit, my mind does switch off once I have to read subtitles and try and keep up with movies. Anyway, I was expecting this to be an action movie, with a name like the Assassin's but it turned out to be an intense drama which I'm am in two minds about.

I recommend this movie to people who are into their history/drama starring Chow Yun-Fat, Yifei Liu, Xinyi Zhang and Hiroshi Tamaki. 5/10

A stark, brilliant, uncompromising tale of imperial intrigue and self- fulfilling prophecies, with a star cast helmed by Yun-Fat Chow and Yifei Liu, TONG QUE TAI (THE ASSASSINS) is one of the better Mandarin films in recent years, and easily ranks with such lush historical epics as CHI BI (RED CLIFF) and MAN CHENG JIN DAI HAUNG JIN JIA (CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER).

A fictionalized account of the events leading to the fall of the Eastern Han Dynasty in 220 CE, as seen primarily from the point of view of Gong Ling Ju—one of many refugees abducted as children, then brutally trained for a decade solely to murder the powerful Duke of Wei, Chancellor Cao Cao. A military genius, adored king, scholar and poet, Cao Cao has been unswervingly loyal to the Han, even feckless current Emperor Xian. But an astrological prediction cast years before foretells that Cao's destiny is to end the Han era—and Xian's courtiers will stop at nothing to thwart "heaven's will". Might their sneak attacks and murder plots only push Chancellor Cao into the rebellion they want to prevent? Or might Cao's growing affection for and trust in his concubine, Ling Ju, prove the weakness that gives her an opportunity to kill her lover?

Solid performances, gorgeous cinematography, and a taut script weaving spectacle with reflection make TONG QUE TAI a skillfully wrought Asian history-based drama.

If you enjoy the Chinese period epic drama for the battle and martial arts, then "The Assassins" (aka "Tong que tai") is not something for you. But if you enjoy the period dramas for the deeper storytelling then you will definitely enjoy this movie.

For me, it was a growing difficulty to sit through this movie, because I enjoy the epics with mass battles, which hardly wasn't in this particular movie. "The Assassins" is driven by its storyline and its brilliant performances put on by an impressive cast.

Speaking of the cast, then Chow Yun Fat really did shine well in this movie, and it is great to see him in the period drama genre movies. But also Yifei Liu stood out in this movie as she does in just about everything she stars in.

The sets, wardrobes and props were amazing for the movie. I really did enjoy the garments and armors shown and used in "The Assassins". There were so many details and fine touches everywhere.

Although a bit too slow-paced for my liking, there still is something astounding to be said about this movie.