Sword of the Assassin (2012)

As Good As It Gets

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

To answer many viewers who thought "Sword of the Assassin" looks like of Chinese origin, it is because IT'S COPIED from Chinese origin. In Vietnam "Sword of the Assassin" is widely known to have plagiarized from several Chinese and Korean movies. This is the same movie called "Blood Letter" but the filmmakers switched the title to "Sword of the Assassin" after Vietnamese social media exposed the plagiarism. It's a big scandal in Vietnamese language media and social media. Some Vietnamese language links: Youtube video "Vietnamese American movie director plagiarize more movies"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z0tYECq_ZA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SGx04TL4SM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0y8YdFddrM Now you know the reason why everyone said how "Chinese" the movie is. Historical influence is no excuse for modern plagiarism, look at Korean movies they had same historical influence but didn't plagiarize and developed a unique Korean cinema. The director had a history of plagiarizing foreign movies and claiming author, particularly he was the first filmmaker investigated for plagiarism by Vietnamese cinema regulators and found to have plagiarized "Shattered"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WttzaJg2WdI The Vietnamese subtitles in the "Sword of the Assassin" expose video say after the director was found guilty for plagiarizing "Shattered", he now copies from different movies and combine to make it harder for the public to find out original source.

Really love this movie!!! :D It has all the wonderful elements I like about martial arts movie - An excellent plot, beautiful scenery, wonderful martial arts choreography and throw in some well done humor and you've got an excellent movie. I really liked the actress who played the evil empress - there was a lot of depth to her character. It was correctly paced and I never felt bored watching the movie. As a martial artist, I really appreciated the choreography. The fighting scenes were exciting to watch and reminded me of the good old days before crouching tiger hidden dragon where there was less flying moments. This choreography has a good mix of both.Overall, I'm so happy I got to watch this movie and as soon as it comes out in DVD I'm going to buy it for all my friends and family :D Also, I really liked the message in this movie. Unfortunately, I can't state what it is or it's be a spoiler. ^_^

At first, this film is not well-acted without any painstaking effort from the producer or the director (Victor Vu). In this film, for his sake, Nguyen Vu decided to move out where he was brought up and came to the town to find out the truth. However, when the secrets were clarified, he easily refused to revenge who dared to kill all of his family. It was so ridiculous and rigid. this context should be somehow ambivalent which will either deliver a painful bane to innocent people or bring a elated boon when finally killing "demons". Moreover, film background was not definitely impressive. Not like a Chinese drama, a city would be crowded of people and shops, but in this film, it is poorly not. But it is just one of the vanguards in making history film in Vietnam, it should not be discouraged.

If story telling is an important element for movies such as this one, then the script writer and the director have failed miserably in this category. The lack of continuity and characters development made the film unbearable at some points and extremely boring at others. The acting is adequate but not believable at various crucial scenes. The camera techniques/angles are above average. The costumes are much better than other Vietnamese movies of the same genre. The fighting sequences meet international standard, but sadly, without any originality. Every martial arts moves and every use of weapons (from swords to sabers, from staffs to spears, from bows and arrows to daggers… ) can be seen taken from or modeled after other famous Chinese martial arts movies such as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Curse of the Golden Lotus, Hero, House of Flying Dagger, etc… especially, in the use of wire work (or "wire fu" as it is known) and several grand scale scenes. In fact, action coordinator Johnny Tri Nguyen can be mistakenly identified as either a student or a prodigy of the famous action coordinator/director/actor Woo-ping Yuen, Tsu Hark, or Jet Li. On the same track, even with the best categories for the movie are art direction and cinematography also somehow can be seen as a copy of those Chinese movies mentioned above. This movie is more of a Chinese movie than a Vietnamese one. Another irritation factor is the unnatural voices of the actors and actresses with awkward talking scenes which can cause the audience to cringe at most conversations in the movie. This is a critical weak link in every Vietnamese movie. Vietnamese people don't talk like that in real life, why do they talk like that in movies is unthinkable. Is it because the Vietnamese so used to watching Vietnamese dubbed Chinese movies with that kind of annoying and clumsy voice over that it's become a norm to them? After all, this movie is like a book with its beautiful cover, print works, but its content is filled with terrible writing and clichés; pleasing to the eyes but not much for the mind. Epic?… it certainly is not!… But, it's a watchable movie for a lazy day with nothing better to do.