Reign of Assassins trailer
okay watched it already
strange enough
this post is supposed to be in Mandarin
but this is dedicated to Carly Yap
for being a loyal Michelle Yeoh’s fan
to summarize the movie
it’s a modern mafia story
there’s this mafia group called Black Stone
they are hunting down for a treasure,
a corpse of a kung-fu master
which can enhance the kung-fu of
whoever owning the complete corpse
which was broken into two parts
first I will introduce the cast
here’s the taiko
Black Stone is really a mafia group
he has been blackmailing all the
rich traders and government officers
to run his society
but his real occupation was revealed
towards the end of the movie
came to a shock…
by the way
this is the guy acting as Big Boss Lee
in that movie 《Bodyguards and Assassins》
nominated for best actor award for that role
he is a really good actor
this is where the story begins
while hunting down the corpse
Miss Lil’ Rain got hold of the half corpse
and disappeared into thin air
with 800k dollars of the society
so obviously the society
is hunting her down..
and the corpse she took away
what she did was
she went for a plastic surgery
and waking up 3 months later
as Michelle Yeoh
and so she settle down
as a cloth seller by the road
and marry this Korean guy
and think she gonna live
happily ever after
ladies and gentlemen
please put your hands up for the
two hunks of the Black Stone group
1stly, the Magician
he performed stunts and magics
eg, throwing a rope into the sky
and climbed onto the rope
then he just disappeared
it’s kinda reminded me of
Jack and the Beanstalk
and supermario climbing up
to the coins heaven
last but not least
Mr. Ray Ban…
this is my fav character in the movie
frankly speaking
not because he is Shawn Yue
Mr. Ray is a loving man
his dream is to open up a noodle shop
and settle down with his wife and baby
soon after this job is done
moreover he is a man with integrity and loyalty
when Mr. Magician was suggesting that
why don’t we kill the Mafia head
and divide the money among ourselves
he never take the offer
instead he still sell his life for the Mafia head
but.. unfortunately
he never get to
thanks to Michelle Yeoh and her Korean hunk
but with his determination
he struggled back home
and took the last look of his wife and baby
and had the last noodle supper
with blood dripping all over
R.I.P. Mr. Ray
his fav past time is
noodle cooking
in the middle of negotiation
with Michelle Yeoh
he still cooked at her kitchen
this character
which I think is not of top priority
Barbie Hsu.. aka Da-S
she is the one joining the Black Stone
for the sake of replacing Miss Lil’ Rain
she is a bitch by nature
so they came to Michelle Yeoh’s house
for a round of negotiation
for the corpse and the 800k she stole
the new girl, Mr. Ray and Mr. Magician
the taiko is the one in
Red Riding Hood
then the truth is revealed at last
the taiko is actually an eunuch
so he wanted the corpse so badly
to become a real man again
Barbie Hsu while trying to seduce him
she is all the time seducing someone
discover the truth
and she said
“so the whole thing of hunting down the corpse
is a big joke”
this got on the nerve of the eunuch
and she got buried alive
end of the story
these two walked away alive
everyone else in the Black Stone group
were killed
terrible…
I called this a modern swordsman movie
because there were a lot of
new elements in there
firstly
the magician
I think he maybe a Hogwart graduate
he is a quick witted man
performed magic trick
disappeared into the sky
the magical aura about him
is not something to be found in
traditional swordsman movie
and this scene of Mr. Ray
following Michelle Yeoh
running on the rooftops
it’s a pretty modern scene too
I bet you have seen Jackie Chan doing this
still nothing bets that scene in
《Bodyguards vs Assassins》
Chung Lee vs Donnie Yen
chase on the busy street
this one as well
the ugly truth
eunuch vs a mafia head
oh…
particularly this scene in the bank
it’s too modern
a group of masked men came in
paralyzed everyone
“hands-up … Robbers…!!!”
but no worries Michelle Yeoh is here
she murdered all the robbers
blinded the mastermind
that’s how her identity got exposed
and the love story parts
how it always rain
and the Korean always pretended
he was just passing by
so he helped Michelle Yeoh
keeping all her cloth stocks
and they just hang out
waiting for the rain to stop
this smells like Taiwan drama
and c’mon
these are far matured grown-ups
to be caught in the rain
and fall in love
and another problem I found
with the movie is characters
how convincing it is to have
a Korean hunk as the lead actor?
out of all the faces Miss Lil Rain can choose
why did she choose to become Michelle Yeoh
and this character acted by Pace Wu
personally I think she is pretty
but the pretty and modern face
just doesn’t go for the character
of an adventurous swordswoman
but surprisingly enough
Shawn looks terrific
in this swordsman look
neither too modern nor too old
and the playful self is still there
conclusion
this is a neither good nor bad movie
the quality is there
I mean this is John Woo’s
shooting quality
the music by Peter Kam
the action choreo by Stephen Tung
he choreo for 《Bodyguards&A》
《Seven Swords》etc etc…
the movie is of a strong base
but the new elements that
have been brought in by John Woo
are of surprise of me
I was expecting fighting scenes
similar to those we always see
in swordsman movie
it depends on
whether you can accept these new elements
or you would rather stick to
by Ann Lee, 《Crouching Tigers, Hidden Dragon》?
there you are, Michelle Yeoh again
the storyline
there’s nothing to complain about
swordsman movies are always
about love & revenge
and a huge revelation
post movie photos
mainly Shawn Yue
