Legendary Assassin (2010)

Too much of everything

Excellent adaptation.

Brilliant and touching

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

I rented "Legendary Assassin" because I liked Celina Jade on "Arrow," and because I was looking for a special actress to appear in my movie. Celina, who is Amerasian, has great international appeal. A friend of mine was absolutely convinced she was Latin. However, as much as I liked Celina as "Shado" on "Arrow," her role was pretty one-dimensional. However, in "Legendary Assassin," Celina is extraordinary, managing to be beautiful, cute, funny, sexy and sad in a single role. Not to mention, Celina has a singing voice that rivals Christina Aguilera, which is no small feat, and her "Legendary Assassin love theme" is a bravura performance. You should watch the music video, because the song, which plays over the end credits (and is featured on the radio, in one sequence) is never performed in its entirety. Lead actor Jacky Wu (Wu Jing) is a skilled martial artist. Unfortunately, his opponents are not and the fight scenes are just so-so. Far worse is the story, dialog, and the acting of almost all of the supporting players. Kara Hui, who is not too bad, is still totally unconvincing as a menacing villain. Jacky Wu may be a good actor, but his character is so wooden, one would never know. Almost everyone else has been encouraged to overact, typical of terrible direction. Almost every scene, except the first, is listlessly shot and edited. Even the opening credits are inept. However, Celina brightens every scene she is in. She will make a wonderful leading lady in my movie and will, hopefully, become the international star she deserves to be. Oh, one other positive note. In the movie, Celina has a beautiful Persian cat.I rate "Legendary Assassin a "5".

I've seen this movie today, and it does contain well...not that much wire fu in it.Even today I ask myself why does Jacky Wu-Jing have to do those stupid wire kung-fu movements, he has talent, he has great leg control, he is really good at it,I have no doubt in him, but they are really not necessary. The first action scene also contains wires where Jacky fights against Madams Ma husband and where he got beheaded, I found the scene stupid because where he jumps on the guys shoulders...really stupid scene. The last scene does really remind me of the last installment of Matrix, where Jacky have to fight against 100 opponents, but the best thing about this movie was the love between him and Holly (Celina Jade) and he truly was her guardian angel, even the ending made me cry LOOOL, because its heart breaking. I would give this movie a 6...but the end scene made it worth my 90 minutes, so I have to give it a 7 out of 10. Really good movie, but the wire kung-fu screwed it up :-/ ...

This movie was a disappointment from the start. The direction was very poor and the simple story line was uninteresting. All the unnecessary slow motion scenes with bad cinematography just didn't work. The relation ship between the two lead character was the only thing of interest but even that was superficial. Plenty of better movies to spend your time than this one. It's hard to be positive about any thing in the movie, but there were glimpses of good action scenes but most of them were wasted by poor decision making by the director. I was hoping for something much better considering the exposure and the involvement of Jacky Wu. But what i got from this film was utter disappointment.

The good thing about this movie is that it does not pretend to be an "Infernal Affair" with convoluted plots or an artsy study of human nature. With a simple revenge story, ample first-rate action and competent acting, it offers what movies are usually expected to offer – good entertainment.The stage is a moderately populated island temporarily cut off from the outside world by a storm. The scene: a cosy little local police station, a mysterious stranger (a loner who fights like the devil), a murder involving a body without the head, confrontation between the cobs and goons that outnumber them – all adding up to good dramatic moments.Since Jet Li, Jacky Wu is the best thing from the academies of martial arts of China. The adept camera work and editing fits in well with his crisp, superb action. There is one sequence in the finale that is reminiscent of the one-against-a-hundred scene in Matrix. Fresh face (for the cinema at least) Eurasian Celina Jade has everything it takes to make it to the top in Hong Kong, and maybe even go Hollywood-bound like Maggie Q. It's a question of whether she gets the necessary breaks. "Legendary assassin" also has a supporting cast of over half a dozen Hong Kong favourites from contemporary pop heartthrob Alex Fong to early generation women action star WAI Ying-hung – guaranteed to please the local audience.