Legendary Assassin
Director: Nicky
Li Chung-chi; Jacky Wu Jing
Year: 2008
Rating: 7.5
I love the set up for this film. A professional
assassin takes an assignment on one of Hong Kong's small secluded islands
with its narrow streets, small shops and no cars. After the kill he goes
to the ferry to leave but a typhoon has caused all the ferries to be suspended.
On the last boat to arrive there is a large group of black-clad men who work
for the victim. The assassin cannot get off the island and he is carrying
a head in his bag. And the hunt begins. I only wish this had been directed
by Johnnie To. He would have brought a wonderful suspense and layered complications
upon complications to this. I can imagine how he would use those streets
and alleys for choreographed interplay and shootings. But the film is directed
by the actor and star of the film Jacky Wu Jing. And he does a fine job but
the film basically becomes an action film for him to display his considerable
martial arts abilities. And it is well done but it could have been
smarter and much more elegant.
This is the third film of late that I have
seen with Jacky Wu Jing in it - this, Shaolin and City Under Siege, where
he was the best thing in it. And I was thinking this guy has really taken
on presence since I first came across him in Tai Chi II (1996) when he was
being talked about as the next Jet Li. He was very young and very talented
but had no personality and he kind of disappeared from films with only a
handful over the next eight years. And in a way he still doesn't really have
oodles of personality - but age has given his silent and minimalist acting
a certain coolness. Like the Man with No Name. I went about ten years in
which I stopped watching HK films. I had hit the wall and am just very slowing
inching back into those films I missed. So I completely missed the fact that
Jacky Wu is Wu Jing - the star of the Wolf Warrior films that are huge. He
is like a big star now and I was thinking isn't it nice that Jackie Wu is
still in films.
Bo (Wu Jing) gets his assignment in a small
restaurant in Hong Kong. The agent is Kara Hui who runs the place. A warning
- there is a lot of eating of Chinese food and damn did I want to order some
but it was 2 a.m. So have Chinese food on hand. He goes to the island (not
sure which one it is) and completes his mission easily and cuts off the head
of Chairman Ma. Then he can't get off the island but for reasons we don't
understand yet does not get rid of the head. The black clad men come ashore
headed by Lam Suet and find the headless body. He calls Madame Ma (the stunning
Japanese actress Noriko Aoyama) and she tells him to tear the village apart
and find the head.
Meanwhile Bo has saved a woman Hiu Wor (Celina
Jade) from three gangsters not related to the men of Ma and he has to go
to the police station. With his head. She is a cop too (her real life father
is Roy Horan who was in a handful of HK films in the 1970s and 80s and Celina
who is half Chinese and half American was brought up in Hong Kong.) Three
of the cops are played by Alex Fong Lik-sun, Sammy Leung and Hui Siu-hung.
In the end it gets a bit stupid - Madame Ma kidnaps Hiu Wor and tells Bo
to come get her. Now a professional assassin would say - sorry - I have only
known her for a day - but if you hurt her I will track you down and kill
you and you know I can. Instead - this being a movie - he goes and has a
Jimmy Wang-yu type of ending in which he faces off against about 100 men
- all politely unarmed - and it is quite the shindig. I need to track down
those Wolf Warrior films. I quite enjoyed this for what it was - some great
action scenes.
