Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

A different way of telling a story

It's one of the most original films you'll likely see all year, which, depending on your threshold for certifiably crazy storylines, could be a rewarding experience or one that frustrates you.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Zhu Yanzhi is a girl but disguises herself young man so she can enter the Soul Ease Clan and be trained in martial arts. Only the clan's herbalist knows her true identity. She is put under the supervision of Liang; she isn't particularly proficient but the two grow close and eventually he discovers her secret. During her time there she paints a pair of butterflies on his sword as a symbol of their love. One day she returns home and learns that it has been arranged for her to marry her childhood friend Ma. She refuses and he chains her up! Liang determines to rescue her but Ma threatens Yanzhi's parents so she tells Liang that she doesn't love him. This isn't the end though; the herbalist has a plan that will help her escape Ma's clutches and save her parents… unfortunately he hasn't told anybody else about the plan and he is caught as he tries to leave.As others have stated the English title 'The Assassin's Blade' along with the DVD box art is likely to make one think this is going to be full of martial arts action. There is some action but for the most part this is a romance with a fair amount of comedy, at least early on. Once I started watching I wasn't too surprised by the comedy elements; Charlene Choi, who plays Yanzhi, is a beautiful woman and when she dresses as a man she still looks and sounds like a beautiful young woman. This didn't bother me as she was a delightful presence; likable and naturally funny. Chun Wu and Ge Hu were solid as Liang and Ma although the latter's 'pop-star' haircut seemed a little incongruous. As one would expect from this sort of film everything looks beautiful and is filmed very stylishly. I don't know if it was because I'd read some fairly negative reviews here but I found myself enjoying this a lot more that I'd expected. I would recommend this just don't be fooled into expecting full-on action.

First of all I need to start out by saying don't get suckered in by the movie's title, as "The Assassin's Blade" ("Mo Hup Leung Juk") is just about as misleading as it gets. Having seen the movie now, I understand nothing at all where this movie title comes to shine through in the storyline or the meaning of the movie.And the DVD cover brandishes 'from the action director of "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers"', yeah, that might very well be so, but those two movies are epic martial arts movies, where as "The Assassin's Blade" is a lovestory and a soap opera drama at best. There is just nothing to hint at or even remotely make this movie epic in any sense.That being said, don't get me wrong, because "The Assassin's Blade" isn't all bad. The movie is entertaining enough, just don't enter it with the hopes to see an epic martial arts movie. The story is about Zhu Yanzhi (played by Charlene Choi) who enters a martial arts school disguised as a boy. Here she has to impress the masters and learn the martial arts in order to stay at the school. However, back home there is something sinister brewing in the politics and old, trusted people turn out to be nothing at all what they appear.The movie is beautifully shot, and there is some good cinematography throughout the movie, and it is spices up with some really interesting (and often beautiful) scenes and scenery.However, the movie does tend to incorporate comedy into the story, which doesn't always work out well. And as for Charlene Choi to pass as a boy, well that was just too far fetched, and you'd have to be both blind and deaf to believe that illusion for even a second.For a fan of the Hong Kong cinema, then I found "The Assassin's Blade" to be bewildering and too far straying from what the DVD cover let on. So don't judge a book (or movie) by its cover, eh?I am rating "The Assassin's Blade" a mediocre 5 out of 10 rating, because it wasn't at all what it was wrapped up to be on the DVD cover, but at the same time, it wasn't an all together bad movie. However, it did come off as somewhat of a teenage love drama spiced up with a hint of comedy and martial arts.

I am not familiar with the actors in this film nor have I ever read the story nor do I normally watch romantic dramas so I guess I am not the intended audience for this film. Did it win me over? Not really.The tale of a teenage (?) girl dressed as a boy and sent to a martial arts academy where she falls in love with the top student (and he her) is well photographed and handsomely produced. Probably not her fault but, the lead actress isn't a very convincing boy at all and is directed to hammy, stage style acting. We see her get bound in cloth to hide her womanly assets but later on they are clearly visible while she is supposedly fooling everybody. She is also made-up with lip stick and shaped eyebrows so it's a leap to buy the premise. The male actors fare better but the film is centered on the female character. The film is well photographed and edited until the martial art scenes which are shaky and choppy.On the other hand if you are a fan of stories about ill-fated young lovers set in other cultures this is probably a good film for you. The plot turns when the woman is taken out of the academy to be forced into marriage to her childhood friend who has gone bad and become a sadistic general.I can't give this more than 5 stars but I'm sure there are people out there who can value this film more.

Several days after leaving Hangzhou, I went to see Butterfly Lovers, according to legendary record, which occurred in Hangzhou thousand years ago. The Butterfly Lovers or Liang Zhu is a Chinese legend about the tragic romance between two lovers, Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai,which is equivalent to Romeo and Juliet in western world. Though the content of the film is different, but the theme remains unchanged. A girl disguised as a boy to learn martial arts in Mount XiaoYao with a large group boys. Suddenly or gradually ( it looks contradictory), she felt in love with a boy honest and indignant, while the boy has the same feeling. I still not able to find out a word equivalent to "yuan fen" in English, but I find out an excuse to explain my incompetence that it seems "yuan fen "exclusively belongs to Chinese. And thanks to God, I am a Chinese and able to read Chinese. The ending is the same, two lovers stay together in the same tomb and a couple of butterflies arise as incarnation.But the elite, touching scene inspired or evoked by affection seemingly arising from friendship, was missed in this film. Three-year classmate fellowship, 18-miles send-off on Mount Phoenix are no longer being seen in "modern films" featured by pop stars. It seems soul of traditional Chinese culture greatly lies in ambiguity or subtlety (of course not misunderstanding) especially in expression of any affection, sensation, emotion, sensibility etc; certainly in history it used to lead to unbelievable disaster as many literary men were accused of defaming emperor or ruling class by literal allusion. But Complex is complex, it means a lot to a person who indulges himself or herself in ancient myth or poetry. Anyway, I still can't help weeping silently for two lovers' struggle against malicious power and the incarnation of butterflies, though the latter seems a little bit pompous but mediocre at the same time. But perhaps it's the romance hiding in the depth of mind, could be waken up at any time. After all, I heard a news that China has attempted to list this folklore story as intangible world heritage and already accepted by UNESCO. Certainly, the story is engaging and memorable, but it's not easy for all of the world especially those who do not have much knowledge in Chinese culture to appreciate this story ostensibly old-fashioned but permeated by delicate feeling and poetical melancholy.