08-26-2023, 10:50 PM
(02-24-2023, 10:40 AM)Drunk Monk Wrote: Code of the Assassins
aka Song of the Assassins (which I feel is a better title). It’s the latest from Director Daniel Lee, best known for his second film, Black Mask.
This is classic wuxia with overdone cgi effects. The assassin clan are all masked, so who is who is very convoluted. The main protag is on the path of vengeance because his whole clan was killed over a treasure map. He has a bionic arm that is cgi, and ejects all sorts of ridiculous cgi telescopic swords, halberds and a flying chakra shuriken frisbee that shoots flying daggers. If that doesn’t grab ya (oh and the hand shoots out like a rope dart with fi BFF er blades attached to a chain that can be used as a Tarzan vine) there’s no point it going further.
But I will. There’s treacherous lords and ladies, all hiring assassins and double crossing each other. The protag defies his clan to find the treasure map, which is a clue to finding out who killed his clan, so the whole clan is after him. He encounters a hawt assassin, who poses as a top shelf courtesan with a mission impossible mask (the other masks are contorted faces like demons) and they hook up. She serves as a device to get caught and threatened to undermine the protag’s advantage.
It’s very anime like with each character getting introduces with a montage of action poses spliced in. It’s got an opulent artsy style and ornate costumes (the protag has this medieval trench coat with high collars that I want). The weapons are absurd - crazy fantasy blades, wacky projectiles, and a cgi umbrella that’s all blades and darts.
It has one of those cliche wuxia endings where the plot is revealed in a comprehensive recap, and then revealed again when a layer of truth is peeled back. Too complex to know if all the pieces fit in the end. There’s surely plot holes but I don’t plan to go back and break those down. Not worth the effort.
More of a superhero flick, as wuxia can often be, there’s a lot of flying about with the fight choreo. It’s not bad - lots of sword fights - and has some fine ultravi moments of digital sanguinosity.
I was entertained by the style to which it aspires, but ultimately it misses that mark. Nevertheless it is amusing for what it is.
Not particularly D00M recommended, but not discouraged either.