The Assassin

2015 [CHINESE]

Action / Drama / History

15
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 80% · 129 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 48% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.3/10 10 18584 18.6K

ancient china assassin tang dynasty wuxia slow cinema 7th century

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Plot summary

9th century China. Ten year old general’s daughter Nie Yinniang is abducted by a nun who initiates her into the martial arts, transforming her into an exceptional assassin charged with eliminating cruel and corrupt local governors. One day, having failed in a task, she is sent back by her mistress to the land of her birth, with orders to kill the man to whom she was promised – a cousin who now leads the largest military region in North China. After 13 years of exile, the young woman must confront her parents, her memories and her long-repressed feelings.

Director

Hsiao-Hsien Hou Photo
Hsiao-Hsien Hou

Top cast

Chen Chang Photo
Chen Chang as Tian Ji'an, governor of Weibo
Qi Shu Photo
Qi Shu as Nie Yinniang
Satoshi Tsumabuki Photo
Satoshi Tsumabuki as The Mirror Polisher
Ethan Juan Photo
Ethan Juan as Xia Jing, the aide-de-camp
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
968.01 MB
1280*902
Chinese 2.0
NR
Subtitles cn  us  
24 fps
1 hr 45 min
Seeds 7
1.95 GB
1520*1072
Chinese 5.1
NR
Subtitles cn  us  
24 fps
1 hr 45 min
Seeds 13

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by gingerrdriley 7 / 10

I'm going to assassinate my appetite with this burger.

Honestly I wasn't sure how to feel about this film after seeing it. It looks absolutely gorgeous. The cinematography and production design are really top notch. If I were to judge the merits of this film based purely on its visuals, then I think I'd give it something closer to a 9 or 10. The visuals also comprise some of the best parts of the story telling. Occasionally the film will present an image without context, only to later have the meaning of that image revealed by a character in whatever dialogue driven scene will directly follow that image. It's pretty neat and adds an nice component to the visual splendor beyond simply the surface level appeal. This element of the visual element of the film though, does hint at what is probably this film's greatest weakness. In the same way that one can become really confused when viewing some of the key images without their meaning revealed until after their presentation, the story of the film as a whole is potentially incomprehensible. I don't think it's because it's necessarily too complicated either. It seems more like the director had no patience for conveying information to the audience. There are key pieces of exposition early on which are never referenced again and that you could easily miss if you aren't laser focused from minute one. This is a problem throughout the film and it's not even limited to expository dialogue. There is one scene in particular when two characters are having what I assume was a deadly showdown. Again, visually very nice. The problem though, was that I couldn't tell who one of the character's was, if they had been mentioned/featured in the film previously, or why the fight was even really happening to begin with. It's honestly really frustrating, because this film seems to squander so much of the potential I see in the visual elements for reasons that I can't understand. The incomprehensible nature of the story is frankly needless, and I think it severely limits the amount of people who can truly enjoy it. I like a lot of it, and I might watch it again in the future. I think before I recommend it though, I should preface that recommendation by saying that you can't let your attention falter for even a moment, lest you lose track of the narrative completely.
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Reviewed by carlos_kagemane 5 / 10

Someone must have disliked it too!

i'll start off by saying I like slow movies. I like movies that tell stories through cinematography, editing, sound design. I like to watch movie and feast in the details and bits that the movie carefully exposes. But this movie... I mean, I know there was a history in there, in the middle of the odd editing and weird characters and dialog. But did I care at all? Did I, at any point, looked for the meaning, the motivations? Well... I tried too. I started the movie with a piece of paper and a pen, taking notes, writing the names of characters, trying to make sense of this good- looking mess. But at 30 minutes, I just gave up. It's not the Mallick type of movie, where you don't know exactly what's going on, but you feel that it's okay, it's a subjective experience. The Assassin is like that pretentious friend that uses a colorful, bright, beautiful prose to talk about something you don't get it, and you don't want to get it. You admire its beauty, but... you just don't care. It's not a beauty that touches, it's a beauty that dares, but you just don't get anything. I don't like to say something is pretentious, but I wouldn't be able do find another word. The Assassin is neither style or substance. I don't see a reason to watch it again, or recommend it.

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