The Assassin is a very violent and well done swordplay epic. The tone and storytelling are very consistent in this film. Zhang Fengyi, Max Mok, Rosamund Kwan and the rest of the cast did a real good job in bringing this story and world to life. The film has little humor and maintains a cold and bleak tone to show the harsh and unforgiving lives of assassins(and their victims) in Ming Dynasty China. The Assassin looks beautiful, but maintains a gritty tone and style. The fight choreography is not very flashy here, but very effective and at times very brutal. The action is quite savage and the violence gets real graphic with brutal beheadings, disembowelments and other assorted kung fu carnage. There are nods to Japanese samurai films as well as American westerns. Overall, The Assassin is very well done and is a top notch Chinese swordsman movie.
Review of The Assassin
