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Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
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Critic Consensus: No consensus yet.
All Critics (10) | Fresh (7) | Rotten (3) | DVD (1)
After a decent enough opening it becomes a fairly ordinary affair, the principal attraction residing in the heroine's weirdly flexible sword.
A female warrior attempts to leave her killing days behind in this polished but overblown Chinese period swordplay adventure.
The flashing blades and swirling choreography of the endless fight scenes and the charisma of Yeoh keep you engaged but the end result falls far short of her Crouching Tiger triumph a decade ago.
the film uses its wire-fu trappings to allegorise Buddhist notions of self-transformation in a world of illusions. Throw in some inventive chopsocky tempered by romance, and you have a fatalistic wuxia about the martial pursuit of a "normal life".
A John Woo-chaperoned, Michelle Yeoh-starring martial arts adventure is a bit run-of-the-mill.
Although it drags on a little too long, this Chinese martial arts flick is thoroughly entertaining, thanks to its even pace, strong performances and impressive choreography.
Come for the crunching fight sequences and balletic wire-fu, stay for some surprisingly affecting character moments.
There's little about Chao-Bin's other work to suggest the splendidly choreographed ballets of swordplay that feature here, with Woo's dexterous hand obvious in the fight scenes.
This is fun and well-paced with fight sequences that, while not exactly screaming "Woo", still manage to dance off the screen.
Reign of Assassins offers plenty of exciting sequences, but it frustratingly never fully delivers what it promises to.
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Super Reviewer
Dazzling martial-arts epic. Mr. & Mrs. Smith meets Face/Off in this Chinese swordplay epic where killers yearn for lives of quiet domesticity. It's got a very classic feel, applying wirework sparingly and focusing on the intertwined dialogue and motives of a large cast within the jiang hu milieu. The fights are intricate, concentrating on exotic weapons and styles, but mixing it up with some proxy fighting and concealed technique. The cinematography is largely excellent. There is beauty in many scenes and they capture the emotion of the characters and their circumstances very well. Michelle Yeoh's role in this film is a welcome return to form for the actress that has not had such a meaty role tailor-made for her since Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Her natural beauty and elegance complements Zeng Jing's graceful assassin perfectly and serves as a good foil against co-star Jung Woo-sung's rugged handsomeness. Yeoh and Jung also share great chemistry, and it is firmly to their credit that the film ends on a deeply poignant note.
The tandem of Chao-bin Su and John Woo pays off, as Reign of Assassins turns out to be a superb martial arts period piece.
While starting with a pretty energetic rate to setup what is to become the meat of the story, things soon settle down for a well-paced film. The characters are amusing despite some under utilization for a few of them, and even some major under utilization for a couple others. The story itself also has its twists and it is no surprise that it entertains from beginning to end.
The martial arts sequences come in spurts and they are definite high points of this picture. The sword play choreography is superb and the camera work during these scenes is also worth noting.
Michelle Yeoh has it all. She acts when she has to and fights otherwise. Both are done well. Woo-sung Jung has got a little pep in his step, while Barbie Hsu has a treacherous character to remember. On the downside, the lovely Kelly Lin, Pace Wu, and Jiang Yiyan suffer from lack of screen time.
Reign of Assassins excels all around and is a film out of China to check out.
Holy shit, has wuxia cinema truly make a comeback? Reign of Assassins is a very well crafted film, with an engaging plot and well written characters. Some fight sequences could have been a bit more fluid, but i'm not complaining. It's the kind of movie we don't get very often, so it's very much a welcome gift. Fantastic antagonist, and the wizard guy rocked too.
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