The Assassins is about Cao Cao’s later years, after numerous battles. These battles, and all of the death and violence within them, have a purpose, at least in Cao Cao’s mind. He believes that only through unification can all of the in-fighting in China halt and only then can the nation come together. Other people, including the Emperor of Han, believe that Cao Cao should be dispatched. The very opening of the movie shows young boys and girls being kidnapped from their homes and made to stay in slave-like conditions, studying weaponry and other skills an assassin would use. Ten years later, their mission and purpose is revealed to them: to get close enough to Cao Cao to assassinate him when the moment is right.
Actress Yifei Liu’s character, Gong Ling Ju, is one of these young assassins and she is closest to Cao Cao. She becomes his servant at his residence. Her childhood friend and faint love interest, Mu Shun (Hiroshi Tamaki) is a worker at Cao Cao’s estate as well. He’s more focused on the mission, as Gong Ling Ju begins to understand Cao Cao’s way of thinking and struggles to decide if she believes that this violence has an ultimate good intention (unification) or not. All the while, themes of betrayal and of divine signs (four stars aligning every ten years signals a change in leadership) drive the action and drama of the film.
The Assassins is an enjoyable movie, but not being a student of Chinese history I did find myself paying extra close attention to the subtitles and events on screen in an effort to keep up with not only the plot, but who was who. It’s not difficult, but it does require maybe just a little more attention than you may be used to giving a film. It’s certainly worth it though, and while I can’t attest to the historical accuracy of the movie nor appreciate its intricacies, it’s an engaging and never overly dramatic ninety minute adventure. This is in contrast to some of other films in the epic Chinese history action dramas, that often run too long and have a massive dose of drama (Curse of the Golden Flowers specifically comes to mind).
Presentation quality, both in terms of the director’s choices and on this Blu-ray disc, are excellent. The snow scenes are particularly beautiful and the costumes are as lavish and detailed as you might expect for such a movie. The 5.1 audio is mixed nicely with the dialogue coming through clearly while the sounds of arrows and swords in battle engage you. As for extra features, there isn’t much — just a trailer for the movie and a fourteen minute behind the scenes feature in SD. The behind the scenes feature includes on set interviews with much of the cast and crew, as well as a lot of production footage which is always interesting to see given the epic nature of these historically theme Asian war movies.
To the summary…
