Opening in Michelle’s home turf
John woos Wuxia arts fans
Submitted by dominah on Thursday, October 14th, 2010
ALFIAN TAHIR
Thursday, October 14th, 2010 11:47:00
It is Mr & Mrs Smith to some people, although they didn’t use guns and wore completely dif*ferent attires.
In case you’re lost, the description refers to Reign of Assassins, co-directed by John Woo and Su Chao-Pin a.k.a Silk. Reign Of Assassins is a Wuxia style-martial arts action flick.
The story follows Zeng Jing (played by our very own Datuk Michelle Yeoh) and Jiang Ah-Seng (Korean actor Jung Woo-Sung) - a mar*ried couple - who are each unaware that the other is also a world-class assassin.
By looking at the title and poster, one might assume that this movie is filled with skillful sword-fighting and blood-spilling action. How*ever, it still has romantic elements.
Imagine a ruthless assassin, Drizzle (Kelly Lin), who is trained to kill whoever gets in her way. She falls in love with a monk, Lu Zhu (Li Zhong*han) who reciprocates her feelings. Lu Zhu tries to persuade Drizzle to repent and save her soul. To this end, Lu Zhu even allows himself to be killed during a battle.
Losing someone whom she loves, convinces Drizzle to leave her old life behind. She seeks help from Doctor Li (Jin Shijie) who gives her a new face and identity - Zeng Jing.
Everything seems to be smooth sailing at first, as she meets Jiang Ah-Seng - a humble mes*senger.
Little did Zeng know, her past is catching up to her. The Black Stone (a team of deadly assas*sins) is offering a handsome reward for Drizzle’s capture. They detect Zeng as Drizzle in disguise due to her martial arts style.
Black Stone’s merciless leader, Wheel King (Wang Queqi) orders his top killers to take out those who were close to Zeng as a warning and to offer her a choice - hand over Bodhi’s (Buddhist monk who has mystical martial arts) remains or die.
Will Zeng be able to escape Black Stone’s assassins? Will her bid for a new life with Jiang survive? Can the couple resolve not being completely honest with each other? Find out amidst stunning martial arts action in Reign of Assas*sins.
The action-packed movie is filled with fantastic visual elements, although it didn’t resort to using heavy special effects. This gives Reign of Assassins a unique look for a Wuxia film. In essence, the emotional and personal character de*velopments take centre stage, rather than fancy wirework and daredevil stunts.
As the legendary John Woo put it, in an interview in Singapore recently, "In the end love overcomes all. Reign of Assassins is not about revenge. It is about how love could change a person.
“More or less, Silk and I are trying to portray the essence. This movie is not like any other kung-fu movies which highlight revenge as the main motive.”
Woo added that the theme of the movie itself is all about forgiveness and redemption. This view was shared by Yeoh and Silk.
“Michelle’s role is quite unique. She has a vicious past. She was a killer. When she found love, she felt peace. Even though she was an assassin, she is still a normal person who has feelings. Furthermore, despite her dark past, she can eventu*ally learn to forgive,” said Woo.
Woo seemed excited at having to work with actors from Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong and Chi*na in this movie. Now, he wants to make more films in the booming Chinese film industry.
“It is a challenge for all. We selected various tal*ented actors for this film and the language seemed to be the main obstacle,” he said. “But we solved that.”
Meanwhile, for Yeoh, nothing seems to stop her from becoming the queen of kung-fu. Although her partner Jung Woo Sung is 10 years younger, her performance made age irrelevant. If 10 years ago, she was rocking the set in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, this time she did even better.
“It has been awhile since my last kung-fu movie,” said Yeoh. “Frankly speaking, I was surprised to receive the offer. However, John un*derstands me and we have been working together for a while now. We know each other very well. As a result, we managed to work on this film and I would like to thank him and Silk for this marvellous film.”
Yeoh added that she would love to continue starring in action movies despite critics saying she should have been replaced by other, young*er actresses.
“I’ve worked hard to keep myself in good shape. For me, there’s no problem as long as you give your best in everything and I relish this kind of challenge,” said the 48-year-old actress.
The action in the film is very graceful in the first act, though some would find it a bit slow. However, if you can stand the visual style, to*wards the end, it could be seen as ‘poetic’.
One would get flabbergasted with the mov*ie’s choreography - the moves with a variety of weapons are something that viewers would have to pay attention to.
From flaming sabres, flexible light swords, fireballs to lethal needles, all shown with Woo’s trademark ballet-like action.
Looking at the film’s quality of photography, one will not expect less with Woo’s frequent collaboration with Horace Wong on the cinema*tography. With Woo, either you love the action or you hate it.
Nonetheless, the storyline gets better as it progresses with many plot twists and turns.
All in all, along with the interesting visual package, one might be pleased to see the more matured plot twists in Reign of Assassins. It is a small step for a film, but perhaps a significant leap for Wuxia movies.
“From flaming sabres, flexible light swords, fireballs to lethal needles, all shown with Woo’s trademark ballet-like action.” haaaa. that could totally describe our forum here. No wait. I mean the next one…
