ChampDavSlim
The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.
Bessie Smyth
Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.
Taha Avalos
The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.
Filmsploitation The Film Podcast
The Review: The Assassins tells the tale of Chancellor Cao Cao (Chow Yun Fat), who in the early stages of the Chinese Han Dynasty mercilessly defeated China's greatest warlord and crowned himself King of Wei. Twenty years pass and Cao Cao's son urges his father to overturn the despot Emperor and snatch total control for himself unaware that the children of Cao Cao's victims have been kidnapped and trained as assassins to take their bloody revenge.On the face of it, The Assassins looks like it is in the same vein as Crouching Tiger, House of Flying Daggers and Red Cliff; it cannot be further removed from these classics if it tried. My main issue with the film is that it is extremely difficult to follow as there are so many flashbacks and cutaways, poor editing also contributes to a linear shambles of a film.Chow Yun Fat has slowed down in the past dozen or so years and seems to be quite picky about what he stars in as it looks like he is trying to re-invent himself somewhat by appearing in historical films, Crouching Tiger aside, he has made the wrong decision.I was waiting to see beautiful opulent visuals and stunning scenery, sweeping camera shots, seasonal changes, fantastic wire work and a sweeping love story at its core, sadly, this failed on all counts. The action, when it comes shows nothing more than close ups of 3 or 4 people fighting instead of thousands, the scenery (what there is of it) is cold and barren (like Chow Yun Fat's performance) one on one swordplay is badly choreographed and sped up to a ridiculous degree in that I thought that the disk was skipping in my player!Do not go into this expecting a visual feast of a film interspersed with frenetic swordplay, at most this is a slow burning political drama with a love story badly tacked on, in short this is a contrived, confusing, boring film that looks as tired as Chow Yun Fat's career.Reviewed By: Matt DuddyTHE ASSASSINS is out on home release now. Join the debate on our Facebook group… http://www.facebook.com/groups/filmsploitationpodcast/For more check out www.thefilmpodcast.co.uk
ebiros2
This is a beautifully produced movie both from the story, and production stand point. A production that's second only to the "Red Cliff" which is another story that puts Cao Cao at the focus of the story. China's production of historic movies in recent years are very high quality, and this movie is no exception.I wonder if China these days are following the Hollywood style casting that casts compatible astrological sun sign actors in the leading role. This method seems to ensure good chemistry between male and the female lead. In this movie, three earth sign actors plays the lead (Chow Yun Fat - Taurus, Yifei Liu - Virgo, and Hiroshi Tamaki - Capricorn). This is an unusual story that explores the inner life of Cao Cao, the main antagonist in the first half of the story of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". Why is it unusual ? It's because although many stories about Cao Cao as a tactician has been mentioned, hardly any mention of his private life has been written. This is the first story I've ever seen that attempts to shed light on the private life of one of the greatest tactician China has ever produced (perhaps only second to Kon Min), who've conquered Northern China with his military might, and posthumously been promoted to the rank of an emperor after his sons usurped the Han dynasty.The story of course is fictional, but the weight of the character Cao Cao makes this an interesting story. For a long time I'm sure many people have wondered what would Cao Cao have done in this situation, and that situation. The movie takes an artistic license to showcase his actions in many different situations that in some ways answers to the age long questions people had about Cao Cao. What is intriguing about Cao Cao in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, is that he has style even as a villain, and also shows romantic side, not to women, but in the way he writes poems, makes decisions, and regrets few things he's done. A shadow of his such personality is shown in this movie,Yifei Liu plays the part of the assassin who's mother is hinted to be one of the four great beauties in Chinese history Diaochan (貂蝉). Perhaps one movie is too small of a space to tell the story of Cao Cao, and although this is a very good movie, it still leaves a huge blank area that's not covered about one of the best and the worst hero China has ever produced. Yifei Liu has matured enough as an actor to play the romantic partner of Chow Yun Fat. She did a really convincing act in her role. Although incomplete, the movie deserves an A+ for its effort to put Cao Cao on the big screen.
KineticSeoul
This is one of those movies that tries to incorporate a good story with emotions but comes out less than mediocre. It's a watchable movie but it just lacked in a lot of areas and just isn't as effective as it tries to be. It's just poor film making done by amateur writing. I liked how it didn't have flashy kung-fu stuff to add to the realism but everything else just lacked the substance it tried to achieve. And it might have worked sorta but felt like a mix of other movies. Like it's a combination of "Russian Coffee" and "The Concubine". But not as dark or humanistic. The tragic romance elements just isn't needed in this movie and felt it just there to have Crystal Liu Yi Fei's pretty face on screen. Maybe it's to bring out a bit of the human side to Cao Cao but overall it just wasn't needed. This is basically about the last days of Cao Cao going in a what if direction. The main thing that stands out about this flick is Chow Yun-Fat. He can play a strong and domineering leader exterior wise and interior wise. And he did a great job of playing Cao Cao. Cao Cao is portrayed in this as a strong and domineering character that is forceful and yet has a bit of wisdom and a gentle side to him. And Cho Yun-Fat can really pull off those kinds of presence. Overall it's a watchable movie but isn't a powerful of a movie it tries to be.5/10
rgblakey
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.
