Review of REIGN OF ASSASSINS: Polished, Exciting Traditional Wu Xia Epic

REIGN OF ASSASSINS is a high budget, traditional martial arts epic that should please many viewers who liked CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON, a film that also boasted superb fight choreography, lavish sets, an emotionally charged story set against a parallel, mythological Chinese background, spectacular cinematography, effective music and a string of memorable characters - and, like REIGN OF ASSASSINS, wasn't innovative in any way. What TIGER did better than most of the slew of wu xia epics that have been flooding Asian cinema since the early 1990s (e.g. ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA by Tsui Hark) included presenting a fairly stringent storyline and fleshed-out central and supporting characters. The latter are two aspects that Hong Kong screenwriters aren't particularly good at, or simply just don't seem to care about.

Director/screenwriter Su Chao-Pin clearly aims for an intriguing and coherent plot with colorful and developed characters, too. He largely succeeds, after a hectic and mildly confusing first 10 minutes. Once the central figure, Shi Yu (first played by Kelly Lin) is transformed into Zen Ping - and, thus, Michelle Yeoh, the story gains profile and depth. Yeoh plays a former elite assassin and member of the martial arts order "The Dark Stone", led by mysterious kung fu expert Cao Feng (Wang Xueqi). 800 years earlier a monk with supernatural powers had died; and assassins, politicians, bankers etc have been looking for his bodily remains ever since so that when they track it down they can benefit from its healing powers. A bit of a stretch I know, but read on: Shi Yu/Zen Ping has stolen the body and is now living peacefully with her new husband, Jiang Ah-Sheng (played by Korean "Musa" star Jung Koo-Sung) in some border town. But, of course, she hasn't heard the last of "The Dark Stone" yet. Soon her former fellow assassins have descended upon the town to look for her and the body. They are a colorful lot, including the particularly nasty and sexy Ye Zhan-Qing (played by Taiwanese singer and TV personality-turned actress Barbie Hsu) who does not shy away from disrobing to seduce elderly suitors (Don't get your hopes up, boys: It's half-naked backs and shoulders only).

The performances are mostly up to par or better. But while Michelle Yeoh's role is the most substantial in terms of screen time and profile, she is frequently upstaged by various supporting actors, especially Barbie Hsu as Ye Zhan-Qing. While initially presented as a scheming and unscrupulous bitch (She's qualified to joining "The Dark Stone" by having killed her groom and his father), Hsu manages to imbue her role with a degree of vulnerability. When she finally gets her comeuppance - and in a particularly cruel way, too - the viewer cannot help but empathize with her and feel *some* pity. Wang Xueqi lends suitable gravitas and quiet authority to his role as the clan leader earlier in the film, but also conveys the actual desperation and loneliness of Cao Feng later on.

Korean star Jung Koo-Song is the weakest link in the cast mostly because his role requires to him to be blandly friendly for the greater part of his screen time. There's a twist though to his character which is fairly ludicrous but still works.

REIGN OF ASSASSINS boasts excellent photography (movement and framing), and veteran Stephen Tung Wei's fight choreography ranks with the best I've seen in a long time. Unfortunately, the "modern" quick cutting undermines his work, if just a little bit. Peter Kam, better known for his music for modern action thrillers, delivers an appropriately varied and serviceable, if not truly imaginative, score that mixes orchestra, Chinese folk instruments and electronics. John Woo produced the film and is credited with "co-direction", but his trademarks [slow-mo fighting, melodramatic excess, the occasional flock of white doves populating the frame] are nowhere to be found. Thankfully, I might add.

REIGN OF ASSASSINS is a highly satisfactory and polished entry in the wu xia/wire fu genre that will appeal to both veteran kung fu/swordfight movie fans and "newbies". It does not add anything new to the genre but manages to come off as above par in almost every respect. Recommended.