Reign of Assassins (2010)

Very disappointed :(

Too much of everything

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

A Michelle Yeoh film has seldom let me down over the years, and 'Reign Of Assassins' is no exception. Quality, Style and competent direction all add up to make this a very enjoyable Wuxia offering. Apart from Yeoh's obligatory fine rendering, there are also solid performances from the rest of the well chosen cast,... particularly Jung Woo-Sung as 'the love interest with a surprise' , and from Wang Xueqi as 'the ever-so-slightly mad chief assassin' ..and main villain . All in all I really enjoyed this movie and would love to see a follow-up,... but sadly due to inexplicably-weak box office takings , I doubt that there will ever be a 'Reign Of Assassins 2'.... which is a real pity.

Reign of Assassins could be a sequel to international sensation 'Crouching Tigers, Hidden Dragon', also starring Michelle Yeoh. It has many elements which resemble to the story of CTHD. A untamed female warrior who was changed because of love reminds very much of phenomenal CTHD.Over all movie is very entertaining, action sequences are very well choreographed. The suspense is well kept and story progresses with interest. However character development is weak. Chemistry between both leads could have been better. The romance which we see in the end could not blossom in the start. Perhaps Michelle Yeoh could have work on her passionate expressions. Rest of the cast did their job very well.Cinematography and editing is good. It could be felt that an American handled much of movie's work as the story paces very fast even though it was set in old times. Added action has taken much of the movie's soul out which is common with John Woo's movies.A good entertainer with blend of fast pacing story and brilliant wushu action.

What first got my attention about this movie is the fact that Jung Woo-sung is in a Chinese movie with martial arts involved or wushu. Yeah "The Restless" sort of sucked which is a fantasy movie with sword fighting. But this movie is much better and Michelle Yeoh is also cool in this as well, actually she is badass. Woo-sung seemed to have really practiced Chinese for this role cause it sounds fluent. With just the intro to this movie you can tell what the style of this movie is going to be. The plot is ridiculous like other movies of this type of genre. About some powerful martial artist's remains giving super powers...Well basically lets you become the master of kung-fu and rule the martial arts world by having the remains of that dude. But I enjoyed the Asian comic book style of the movie, especially with the plot and characters. The plot isn't anything great it revolves around kung-fu, assassins, romance, and a dead corpse. What I liked is how almost every character in this movie stands out including the villains and each has important roles. On a negative note the plot is slow paced at times and would have been better if it picked up in certain parts. The fighting choreography however is entertaining to watch and for the most part you can actually see what is going on. Overall it's a kung-fu movie that is worth taking the time to watch, it even has some decent twist and turn in the plot.7.8/10

I've never liked this type of film, but had expectations that this one would be different. Alas, it did not. Unreal combat scenes where the good guys always leave without a scratch, and the bad guys are left dead, or severely wounded at best. Not an entertaining storyline in sight, not a moral to take away home, nothing.However, the rest of the audience seemed to enjoy it. Moreover, I saw it appear very high in the prize list from the public at the Rotterdam filmfestival 2011. Obviously, I miss something);-))I can mention only one positive point, viz. the music during the non-combat scenes. As a music lover I found these very good, and supportive for the mood of the scenes it belonged to.However, I did not hinder me from giving a 1 (lowest) as a score for the public prize of the Rotterdam filmfestival 2011 where I saw it. I suspect having been the only one, given the reactions of others during the screening, but I don't care.