Country: Hong Kong
Genre: Drama/ Action/ Martial Arts
Director: Teddy Chen
Year: 2009
Rating: 
TRASH CINEMA RECOMMENDED MOVIE
From the title, you might expect that Bodyguards and Assassins would be a compendium of blistering action sequences stitched together with the minimum amount of exposition and character work, but you’d be mistaken. The action doesn’t truly kick in until the 3rd act.
This isn’t really a criticism because Bodyguards and Assassins succeeds marvelously as historical spectacle and as an ensemble character piece.
In the early 1900s, in China, Democratic ideas were being aired. When one would-be revolutionary is assassinated, Dr. Sun Yat Sen decides to travel to Hong Kong in order to unite the squabbling Democratic factions. The Empress Dowager of the Qun Dynasty orders the death of Sun Yat Sen. Scores of highly trained assassins make their way to Hong Kong to prevent Sun Yat Sen from attending the meeting. Who can possibly stop them?
Bodyguards and Assassins spends most of its running time exploring how ordinary men and women become radicalized enough to put their lives on the line for political reasons. Most moving is Li Yue-Tang (Wang Xue-Qi), a wealthy businessman who financially supports the rebels, but has no intention of letting his family get politically involved. For one thing, his son has just been accepted into an American university. How Li Yue-Tang gradually becomes convinced to risk everything for future generations could have been simple propaganda in less skilled hands, but actor Wang Xue-Qi makes the transformation painfully real.
Donnie Yen continues his development as a genuine thespian — not just a martial artist — with his portrayal of Sum Chung-Yang, a degenerate gambler. I’ve never seen Yen play a spiritually weak man, but he pulls it off beautifully. He adds notes of longing when it’s revealed that he has a daughter.
Simon Yam and Tony Leung (big Tony) give characteristically expert portraits as leaders of the Democratic movement in Hong Kong.
I could go on, but the acting is almost universally fine. The only exception is Leon Lai as a master martial artist drowning his sorrows in an opium den. Lai has a scene in which he explains his grief. The scene should have been quiet, but Lai indulges in unconvincing histrionics.
Another strong point of Bodyguards and Assassins is the cinematography (Arthur Wong, Peter Ngor, Lai Yiu-Fai, Liu Ai-Dong, and Yeung Jan-Yu) and art direction (Jeff Mak, Eric Lam), which are sumptious.
The Hong Kong film industry has come an awfully long way in just the few years since Jet Li’s Fearless came out. What were once obvious digital matte paintings and computer effects are now fully convincing. What a luscious rendition of early 20th century Hong Kong!
When the action finally kicks in, the quality of Stephen Tung’s martial arts choreography is high (although not quite at the exalted level of Ip Man). What makes it even more powerful is that, thanks to the excellent character writing and acting, the emotional stakes are enormous. Each death registers as tragic.
Director Teddy Chen only slips up when he insists on hitting us over the head with a speech Sun Yun Sen gives about the necessity of personal sacrifice in times of revolution. Hmmm - we got it already. What makes it even harder to stomach is that it seems intended as propaganda, proposing that there is glory in sacrifice to the state, in this case modern China. That is borderline obscene since Mainland China is not a democracy, and in fact forbids political and religious freedom. Even worse, the last image in the movie is a closeup of Sun Yat Sen’s face. We’re supposed to understand that he feels the pain of those who have lost their lives. This is a colossal blunder on the part of the filmmakers. The rebels didn’t give their lives for Sun Yat Sen. They gave their lives for an idea. It’s downright offensive.
Those errors in judgment, although they only comprise a tiny portion of the movie’s running time, put such a bad taste in my mouth that they forced me to subtract a full star from my rating, but can’t succeed in ruining all the good work the filmmakers have done up to that point.
Despite it’s missteps, Bodyguards and Assassins is well worth seeing.
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