Empire of Assassins

Empire of Assassins is not actually a "movie" at all, but an abridged version of a Chinese TV series. Many people here have commented on the poor production values, but I think they are selling the series short. The production values are actually quite high for television, and aside from the fact that it's shot on (rather good looking) digital video instead of film, the costumes, editing, cinematography, fights, etc... are all easily par with an average 1990's style Hong Kong Wuxia movie. I've seen a few of these adapted TV series before, and this one looks better than most, honestly. The dubbing seems "off" because even in China, these series are often shot without sound, and all dialogue and sound effects are added later.

However, all of that can't save the plot from being fragmented and oversimplified, since it's been cut down from an original that would have been many, many hours longer. It helps to know what you're dealing with... this is NOT a lavish cinematic affair like CROUCHING TIGER or HERO. This is a condensed version of a cheap little TV action drama... and in that sense it not so bad if you're looking for a little bit of that retro wire-fu action. Think of it as Saturday morning cartoons, with more blood and exotic weapons. :)

This is a very bad Chinese martial arts movie with a very stupid simple-minded 1-dimensional screenplay and scenario. The fighting sequences are so stupid and ridiculous. The guy tried to revenge for his family, sometimes very dominant and strong, sometimes very weak, making me feel very confused to determine he's really strong enough to successfully seek revenge. The worst thing is the ridiculous English voice over, especially when they say their Chinese names. The sound effect is also so formulaic with lot of Ah, He, An...grunts. The endless fighting scenes are just too much and over the top. The acting of all the actors, especially the young actress, my Lord, are so bad.

This is a very tiresome 1-dimensional stupid movie and worsened by the stupid English voice-over.

To be able to boot is to be lucky, to be able to kill is to be an anecdote, and to be released is a legendary family movie. It is undoubtedly a parallel import that sneaks into the theater and squeezes on the big screen. The star-studded stars are scattered in the film, and the boring bridge piece is put together into a whole film. Action comedy, which does nothing in action and comedy, is also nothing new in fun and adventure. And for the filmmakers, they have no sense of responsibility, and they continue to send rotten films to domestic films that have been rusted because of too many bad films. Difficult.

The only reason I gave this movie a rating of 1 is because there is no option to give it a ZERO. A monkey could have directed better fight scenes. The story was horrid and made absolutely no sense. The "acting" is worse than a school play put on by 6 year old children. The cinematography was laughable. The ending was as if whoever wrote the script had no clue how to end the movie, so they just decided to destroy part of the set and then cash out. Even if you get the chance to see this movie for free, choose to be punched in the groin numerous times instead. The pain of the punches to your genitalia will pale in comparison to the pain you will undergo from watching this steaming pile of feces. I only wish there was a way to go back in time and punch MYSELF in the groin numerous times to stop myself from watching this. If it were possible to file a class action lawsuit against a movie-maker (and I use that term very loosely in the case of this "movie") I'd sue the hell out of every single person involved in creating this filth. Their families should bow their heads in shame that a member of the family was involved in this crap.

This film was so bad that I was mesmerized by its total lack of value. I could not believe that any honest effort in art could produce such a mess, and I decided not turn it off until it showed SOME merit. So, I saw some silly fight scenes, like you'd expect from an Asian version of the Three Stooges. And the story line was something that you'd get if I translated a Chinese script, myself, then shuffled the pages, like a deck of cards. Something about a man avenging his family's murder. He comes back to kill the clan that did it, and the army mostly stands around and allows him to fight them one man at a time. The fight scenes were hilariously too-long, and the man would get shot by an arrow, put some cream on it, and he'd get up like nothing's wrong. This was Awful, in my opinion.