Lady Assassin - Shaw Brothers Action Spectacular

Feb

17

Lady Assassin - Shaw Brothers Action Spectacular

≡ Category: Action, Drama, Essential, Hong Kong, Martial Arts |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

Country: Hong Kong
Genre: Action/ Drama/ Martial Arts
Director: Tony Liu
Year: 1983

Rating:

TRASH CINEMA ESSENTIAL MOVIE

If there was ever a movie that deserved the epithet action-packed, that movie would be Lady Assassin.

It seems like there’s a blistering kung fu/swordplay battle every five minutes or so. The thing is that it never seems gratuitous. Credit that to a superb script. The plot developments are consistently clever and give ample opportunities for action. The dialog is zestful. The many characters are colorful and fully realized.

Now, understand that Lady Assassin is a flaming melodrama in the Shaw Brothers style, so don’t expect modulated drama.

The story is simple enough to begin with. The emperor is getting old and wants to create a clear line of succession for the next emperor, but first he has to figure out which one of the 14 princes would rule most responsibly. This he does by a most ingenious method, which I’ll let you discover.

In the end, only 4th Prince (Lau Wing) and 14th Prince (Max Mok) are likely contenders. Much of the early action has to do with 4th Prince trying to assassinate 14th Prince to ensure his coronation. Standing in his way is martial artist extraordinaire Tsang Jing (Norman Chu), who faithfully serves 14th Prince.

After the emperor makes his choice, he issues a written decree, which will be opened when he dies. But that doesn’t stop the sore loser of the contest. He comes up with an ingenious method to thwart the process.

When the successful prince is eventually crowned emperor, he betrays those who placed him on the throne. The rest of the movie concerns their attempts to get payback.

All of this complicated plot is delivered breathlessly. If anything, at 86 minutes, the pacing is a little too fast. Sometimes you have to struggle to keep up, but it’s undeniably exciting and fun.

The actors are a blast. I especially enjoyed Norman Chu, Max Mok, Ku Feng, Leanne Lau, Cheung King-Yu, and Yeung Jing-Jing. The young women in Lady Assassin are invariably adorable and believably deadly.

Everyone involved executes the highly creative choreography from Yuen Tak, Poon Kin-Gwan, and Chung Wing superbly.

If I have a criticism (aside from the sometime too quick pacing), it’s that the villain of the piece doesn’t suffer enough when he gets his comeuppance. But even so, Lady Assassin is non stop fun. I was chuckling in delight all the way through.