Lomedin With a running time over 2 hours, I found this movie a bit slow and extremely over-dramatized. I mean no disrespect for the events that led to the China Revolution of the beginning of the 20th century, although trying to put too much drama into this by ways of overacting and continuously falling in a pit of drama is not helping much.There are a couple of moments that shine, like the fight of the policeman with one of the assassins or, particularly, the apparition of the cleaned up beggar. Well, in fact, these are the only 2 real fights in the whole movie.This movie could have done much better without so much drama and little less running time. In order to make people know about the Revolution, you don't need to make a mockery out of the real tragedy.

russlawrence Well now I've heard (and seen) it all. I saw the great reviews of this movie, and after watching the amazing "The Man From Nowhere" last night, thought I'd go 2 for 2.Not so!Other reviewers are saying this made you care for the characters. I can't believe that! I was laughing more than anything. How many times can you be reminded over and over and over of the same things... the man trying to protect his son, the man trying to overcome the death of the woman he loved, the man trying to fight for the daughter he almost had... blah blah blah.If it were done with great acting, then maybe, but this is far from it. This is by far the cheesiest movie I've seen in many years. Overacted, over-dramatized, over-directed, over-edited, and even the score was overdone."Over The Top." If Stallone hadn't made a movie with that title, this one should be called that for sure.At least I was hoping for some great action and fighting... but alas no... If it wasn't for the fight scenes starting at about 38 minutes left in the film, I would have given this movie one star.I can't believe I sat through the whole movie until that last part. But at least them I got to see some cool action, even if every time someone "important" to the plot died, they would flash their obituary on the screen... like I was going to cry or something?Honestly, don't believe the hype you're reading about this movie. I'm a HUGE fan of action, drama, and martial arts films. Finding one that has great action, drama, plot, fights, and acting is about impossible (unless it's "The Man From Nowhere"). This movie succeeds in having NONE of those great elements.It's boring. It's supremely cheesy. It's unsatisfying. And now I can't get my Saturday night back. Oh, well... I'll call it an experiment in movie watching and try something else tomorrow. The least I could do is to warn others to NOT waste their valuable time on this cheese-fest.Don't make me say I told you so... Watch something else.

John Jacobson The driving theme of this film is Dr Sun's importance to China. He is the guy who is credited with liberating the Chinese from the tyranny of the Empress Dowager Cixi. She is the shadowy figure we see at the beginning of this film (and at the end of another great Chinese film, Warlords). Dr Sun's idea was to make China a free, prosperous, and powerful nation. Well, I guess two out of three ain't bad. Nevertheless, he is considered the "Father of The Nation", and you will see his portrait proudly displayed today at China's big political meetings.Bodyguards and Assassins was a fun, deeply moving, and brilliantly acted piece of propaganda. I enjoyed it without English subtitles. I wonder if I would have enjoyed it less or more if I knew what the characters were saying? I was fortunate enough to watch this film with my Chinese friend who reads widely on this subject. He survived the horrors of the Chinese Cultural Revolution and left for Australia shortly after the Tiananmen Square massacre. His healthy cynicism for his home country was on full display as we watched Bodyguards. Every time a character died for Sun, a caption popped up stating the date of birth and death of said character. My Chinese friend would grin. "These are not even real people", he would say. Indeed, the whole story is just another wonderful example of "alternative history" - a genre played with a deft hand by dictatorships everywhere. Bodyguards lovingly polishes the mythology of its biggest political icon outside of Mao. Although, my Chinese friend cautioned, "Sun wasn't exactly a saint. He was supported by the criminal underworld". Nevertheless, the film takes great pains to deliver the idea that Sun's revolution is worth the sacrifice of many lives.The concept of many people sacrificing themselves for one hero will grate on our Western sensibilities. Our Jesus-archetype is the exact opposite. We tend to prefer the idea of one person sacrificing himself for many. This would explain why many Western critics find this film a little over the top.If you watch this film for nothing else, then watch it for actor Wang Quexi's breathtaking arc-of-character. It is a credit to the man's skill that I could feel what he feels without understanding Mandarin. For this performance, Wang became the first mainland Chinese to win Best Actor at the Hong Kong Film Critics Awards.

igoslw Do not waste time watching this movie. I wish i would have never watched it. Horrible storyline, plot, and action. Doesn't make since to make people super human in a, what's suppose to be, a serious story line about china's history and revolution. And they had a gun the whole time and they ran from one guy (with only a sword.) The professor new who the head of the snake was the whole time. Yet he informed no one or even try to turn the table and assassinate him.I'm not sure how accurate this movie is but even if it was accurate why waste 23 million to retell a story to show people how dumb the rebellion was. Poor planning and wasted too many lives... People died, and they didn't have to. And who the hell kills their target without confirming it.I am really disappointed at the time i wasted watching this. I was hoping for it to get better but it just got worse. More idiotic. More corny. Please heed these words. Watch something else.