Where are directors Yimou Zhang (Hero, Raise the Red Lantern) and Kaige Chen (The Emperor and the Assassin, Farewell My Concubine) when we need them to make Chinese historical epic films? Besides John Woo’s Red Cliff, the last bunch of historical epics that have been churning out of China for the past five years have been stale, cold, and boring. Linshan Zhao’s The Assassins can be thrown onto the pile of the forgettable that includes White Vengeance, Three Kingdoms, The Lost Bladesman, Legendary Amazons, Confucius, The Founding of a Republic, and 1911.
This daytime television soap opera takes place during Eastern Han Dynasty China. In a remote secret place in the mountains, young Lingju (played by Zhang Zimu) is captured by a mysterious organization and, along with other kids, are forced to go through a rigorous training to be an assassin (sort of like a Batman Begins’ League of Shadows summer camp where kids and teenagers can either get castrated and/or die, yay). As Lingju spends many years there, she gets close to fellow camper Mu Shun (played by Robin Liu), which develops into love as they age. When adult Lingju (played by Crystal Liu) is finally freed from the evil organization and sent on her first mission, she has to play as a concubine to warlord chancellor Cao Cao (played by Chow Yun-fat) and wait for the right time to assassinate him. The adult Mu Shun (played by Tamaki Hiroshi) has also been sent on his first mission to play as a royal eunuch to Emperor Xian of Han (played by Alec Su) in a nearby city. What follows for the next hour and a half is a déjà vu that I already experienced in the recent White Vengeance – the exciting assassin training camp scene in the opening is quickly forgotten as the movie transforms into a boring soap opera with warlords, advisors, warriors, assassins and other sidekicks throwing hissy fits with each other over trust and whatnot. Some characters get angry enough to end their arguments with a sword through a chest. That’s basically The Assassins.
The cinematography and costumes are pretty as expected for a Chinese period film, but when the dialogue and development of any character is lacking, who cares about a beautiful shot of snowflakes falling onto the palace courtyard? I was not impressed and this movie is really not worth watching even for the very few action scenes.
Chow Yun-fat’s portrayal of warlord Cao Cao is solid but nothing extraordinary. If you want to see a memorable Cao Cao, go watch Fengyi Zhang’s memorable performance in Red Cliff.
The Assassins isn’t totally bad – there are about two visually cool scenes. The first one is the opening scene of the assassin training camp which didn’t even seem connected to this type of period-piece film. And the second scene involves a very creative use of grappling hooks and cross bows by stealthy assassins who create a rope web above the courtyard to avoid getting killed by guardsmen and to quickly bounce towards Cao Cao’s section of the palace. The sporadic moments of action are generally nicely choreographed, but when I think about the negatives that outweigh the positives, the scale clunks all the way down to the negative side for The Assassins.
The Blu-ray from Well Go USA has pretty solid quality. While not as crisp and perfect-looking as their usual Blu-rays, the 1080p 2.35:1 picture reminds me of very good video quality of a catalog title from the 1990s rather than one from 2012. Everything looks clear and clean but there are many shots which have this softness and strange blue/green filter covering the image. Close ups look very good while long shots sometimes look similar to an upconverted DVD. These may be faults of how the movie was originally shot, but overall the video is a satisfying video experience. Just don’t expect it to look breathtaking like most of the other Blu-rays from Well Go USA.
Fortunately, the DTS-HD 5.1 Mandarin audio track sounds amazing as expected for a brand-new film. The dialogue is always crisp and intelligible, and never drowned out. While The Assassins is mainly a drama, this mix does everything it should in a satisfying way when the few action scenes pop up. Galloping horses always sound exciting in this kind of film, but the audio highlight on this disc involves those crossbows and grappling hooks during the one original action scene.
English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Mandarin Dolby Digital 2.0, English Dolby Digital 2.0, as well as English and Mandarin subtitles are also included.
The only extras are a 13-minute “Behind the Scenes” featurette and movie trailers.
– Behind the Scenes
– Trailers for main feature and other Well Go USA releases
Every time I watch one of these dull manufactured period-pieces from China, I have more appreciation for Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor. The Last Emperor is like a 3D experience – a film that completely pulls you into the world of old-school palace life right up there with all its characters. Watching The Assassins is the total opposite – a film that distances the audience as if there was an opaque shower curtain placed between the viewer and the screen. I appreciate the epic-looking scenery and costumes, but an engrossing screenplay should not be left behind. If you like dry historical period-piece soap operas that would fit better as a tv movie rather than as a film released in theaters, then maybe The Assassins is worth a peak.
