The introduction features a captivating lucha aesthetic where Monk Bodhi is depicted arriving from India over eight hundred years ago. It is said that he first engaged in proclaiming Buddhist doctrines in the Palace before moving to Mt Jinhua, where he began his practice in kung-fu and achieved superhuman abilities. It has been suggested that anyone who possesses his mummified body will have absolute control of the martial arts world, which has led many people to the believe that his remnants are valuable artifacts. In no time at all, attempts to acquire Bodhi’s valuable remnants began, resulting in many conflicts among the grave raiders, which disrupted the martial arts community.
In response to hearing that Minster Zhang possesses one half of the remains of Bodhi otherwise known as the dark stone, an guild of assassins known as the dark stone storms into his place and proceeds to kill off everyone in his family without a care, led by the Wheel King. But during all of the chaos, one of the assassins named Kelly Lin, manages to grab hold of the remains and goes missing in the scene. Now, after fast-forwarding some years into the future, we see her in the Capital under the name of Michelle Yeoh after undergoing facial surgery and setting up a miniature fabric stall. As a result, she develops a plan and eventually marries a local messenger Jiang An Sheng in hopes of living a calm life.
However, that is not the end for the minute long glance that these assassins’ took at Kelly, as that very zoomed in glance at she had gone missing, they are bound to repeat their efforts by keeping an adamantine and intrusive eye at her for englightment. In one occasion, during a bank robbery, Anita aka Kelly has to resort to using her Water Shedding Sword technique to defend herself, exposing her real identity and location to the world. Upon realizing what had happened, the black stone members set out to the town in search of Kelly, with a singular goal in their mind.
“Ironically enough, director Su was a screenwriter at heart, and Su’s “Silk” (2007) is in many ways not much different from “Reign of Assassins”. The two films are equally dramatic with highly detailed character development, and plenty of wrangles when it comes to the color tones and somber images. Moreover, there is the familiar mix of horror and comedy that is present in Su’s works. In addition, his action scenes, also done by Stephen Tung Wei, are a curiously authentic combination of speed and slowness which complement the other elements of the film. Yes there is the inclusion of wire work, but it is not overdone so that the final product is a set of action scenes that are more real than exaggerated. Tung also seems to enjoy medium close ups in his choreographed fight sequences which I enjoyed as they were fluid and tense all at the same time.”
Michelle Yeoh returns in form with this production following her embarrassing performance in “The Touch” and the disgraceful “Silver Hawk” alongside Woo Jung in the film ‘The Crouching tiger Hidden dragon’ which released in 2000. Despite appearing to be the mismatch with her romantic partner due to age differences, she is put to good use along with Su. Given the fact that Jung portrays Ah Sheng as an innocent and naive person, his performance is weak due to that reasoning.
Notably, even the supporting cast has their roles well edited and make a remarkable contribution to the quality of the movie. Wang Xue Qi, a dependable veteran from Mainland China stars as The Wheel King and depicts their ageing leader who is sadistic with a concealed past. In a tangential role as Drizzle, Kelly Lin makes one heck of an impression, as one who uses a flexible sword which conforms to the victim she is trying to take out. Turquoise (Barbie Hsu), recruited as her replacement, is a sociopath who is Sel-acious, vicious and smitten with men and money. Shawn Yue appears in the movie as Lei Bin, a striking warrior and the assassin uses needles as his weapon of choice. The older killer of the group is Leon Dai who assumes the avatar of a magician, relying on deception and sleight of fingers to eliminate his enemies.
To put it more simply, “Reign of Assassins” is an engrossing tale that has been a well-executed period romance infused with classic wuaria elements and brought back to life in a modern setting. The movie is jam-packed with entertaining characters and it is apparent that Yeoh still possesses the magical charisma and unforgettable charm of a skilled martial arts practitioner and actress who possesses charismatic screen presence. On the basis of the storyline, the visuals and character development, we can confidently declare that Su Chao Bin is the director’s name, although Woo contributed as a producer.
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