Derek Childs (totalovrdose) Typically I've found, when a lot of critics praise a film, it often isn't that good. I'm however glad to say that is not the case with The Assassin, a film I was looking forward to watching. Despite been classified as an 'action' film, the feature often works best as a political period piece, anyone looking for a martial-arts epic perhaps wanting to focus their attention elsewhere. That being said, the fight scenes, though usually short lived, are beautifully choreographed, occasionally appearing more like a dance, sweeping you away with their gracefulness.The film centres around our self-titled assassin, Yinniang (Shu Qi), who is hailed as been 'unmatched' by her teacher, Jiacheng (Sheu Fang-yi), who took her away when she was a child and trained her in the arts of fighting. From her piercing, thousand yard stare, her straight posture and deft touch, there is never a moment when you don't believe Yinniang to be who she is, her calculated movements making her appear like water on screen. For someone who is so lovely (and tiny), Ms. Qi is phenomenal, there been moments when you can't help but shiver as she stares into the camera and right into you, eliciting the same fear her victims no doubt feel.Though Yinniang says barely a syllable throughout the film, on the rare occasion when she does speak, you are given the rarest glimpse of her compassion and humanity. Her sympathetic heart is the reason her master gives her the mission of assassinating Weibo's governor, Tian (Chang Chen), who was once her former intended husband when Yinniang was a child, Jiacheng believing the completion of this task will make Yinniang undefeatable in battle.The environments and set pieces are vivid and gorgeous, showing a delicate, flourishing world of colour and tranquillity, while the costumes are as elegant as they are majestic. Despite the film centring on a professional killer, the film does not rely on any blood, nor is there any sexual content of any kind.Moreover, the music accompanies the scenes well, though does not appear to centre around any characters or themes. The Assassin however is more a visual spectacle than anything else, one of those rare films you may need to watch more than once, in order to truly see all that the director intended, even the subtlest of images having a great impact, while the occasional use of black and white helps depict the different seasons in Yinniang's career.Themes of honour, jealousy and family occasionally feed into the narrative, and though these required more depth, there is no denying their importance during certain scenes, though the concept of black magic seemed unusually out of place. The same level of depth could have additionally been applied to some of the feature's secondary characters, whose intentions we only begin to briefly understand.Towards the end, an anti-climatic resolution presents itself to the audience, the story continuing long after the credits role, enabling the viewer to create their own particular ending to fit the leads. Considering the exactness of much of the feature, it is a little disappointing that we are provided an end that is, although conclusive, far from definitive.

aphrodisiaciix Visually stunning. Aesthetically Done. Very s...l...o...w (can be edited out at least 30 minutes of unnecessary prolong scenes that add nothing more to the story), and NOT particular interesting. Simple story line but, unfortunately, telling in a complicated way with many (unnecessary) characters. The background drum beats are not only annoying but also noticeably a poor copycat of Tan Dun's "Hero" (so do the "guqin" string instrument music - down to the notes.A thought-provoking movie is one thing, a hard to understand, hard to follow to a point of losing interest movie is another thing. This movie is like a concept tryout... an in-development footage. Needs to be more thoroughly thought out to be a polished product.The only attraction is Shu Qi, and even she can't save its boringness.All style, no substance. Pleasant to the eyes, but nothing for the mind.

ibarrf Well I must admit I was misled by the Title of the movie and was expecting an action flick, still I watched the whole thing and was very disappointed. In my opinion "The Assassin" tries to be too many things at once; it tries to have action in it but fights are short and few (if well choreographed), it tries to be a drama but it never made me care enough for any of the characters or what happens to them and finally it actually provokes amazement and wonder with it's locations and general cinematography, but sadly it's not enough to make the movie entertaining. It felt more like a 2 hr slideshow of landscapes than a movie. I know there are people that will appreciate it in some way, but I'm sure they studied cinematography or are related to the subject in some way, the rest of us will find it slow and boring, no matter how visually beautiful it may be.

nicholls_les I think the title is misleading and should be changed to overly arty piece of nonsense because that would better reflect the experience of trying to watch this without sleeping.The story is pretty much impossible to follow and jumps around to much.It is rare that I get fed up with watching a movie so early on but this one is so dull. Beautiful scenery but almost every boring scene is lingered on for ages.The action is sparse and not very well choreographed, in fact the fight sequences are themselves pretty dull and overly arty.It is hard to find anything positive to say about this movie and I am puzzled over those who gave it a good review.