Bodyguards and Assassins is a fictional story about the assassination of Dr Sun Yat Sun, who overthrow the corrupted Chinese Qing government during the early 20th century. Though there are no accounts in the history to back up the story, it has well reflected on how the then Qing government wanted to protect themselves and their refusal of accepting the existence of the rising Western power by getting rid of anyone who tried to threaten the Qing government's position in the politics.
Produced by Peter Chan Ho-Sun and directed by Teddy Chan (Downtown Torpedos, 1997; The Accidental Spy, 2001), the streets of Hong Kong in the early 20th century were created specially for Bodyguards and Assassins, which provides the audience with a sense of realism, and also to match the background of the story. This is one of the few Hong Kong and China productions which group several veteran actors and A-listed casts into the movie. The casts can be classified into two groups, namely the bodyguards and the assassins.
Businessman Li Yu Tang (Wang Xueqi) financially supported Dr Sun's revolution, with the assistance of Chen Shao Bai (Tony Leung Kar Fai), the founder of The China Times newspaper agency. Using the agency as the secret meeting ground, they recruited rickshaw puller Si (Nicholas Tse), hawker Ming (Basketball star Barter), beggar Bai (Leon Lai) and Hong (Li Yuchun), the daughter of former general Fang (Simon Yam), who was assassinated by Empress Dowager Cixi's assassins. When Yu Tang's only son, Chong Guan (Wang Bo Jie) enroll himself into the protection of Dr Sun, Yu Tang was forced to protect him at any cost. On the other side, Cixi ordered official Yan Xiaoguo (Hu Jun) to lead the assassination. With the assistance of Yang (Donnie Yen), a gambler, Yan comes with a perfect plan for the assassination, until Yang decided to risk his life to protect Dr Sun under the persuasion of his former wife (Fan Bingbing), who married herself to Yu Tang.
The trailer of Bodyguards and Assassins sells the movie as a form of martial art movie, which one will expect to be a full 2 hours 19 minutes martial art thriller. However, it would not make sense to drag all actions into a 2 hour film, while the incident takes only an hour. Thus, a clear description of the relationship between all the people involved in the protection and assassination were clearly explained to the point in the first hours. This helps to pave the way to the next hour, which supports the chaos that took place in Hong Kong upon the arrival of Dr Sun, where Chen believes that the journey will be paved with blood. This supports a line featured in the film: Revolution means sacrifice. The road to salvation is paved with blood.
One will tend to expect all the casts given equal share of appearances in the movie. However, the movie will mainly focus on Tang, Bai and Yan. The plot expands further and the rest of the cast will be introduced slowly, where their relationships intervene with each other. This is slightly different from the usual China/Hong Kong blockbusters, where A-listed casts are given heavier roles to expand. With Hong Kong pop sensation Jacky Cheung making a special appearance at the opening scene, it makes one feeling it is worth taking a trip down to the cinema to catch the show.
It is not often Asian cinema will get a piece of fantastic historical productions which boasts A-listed casts and veteran actors together, and also gives the story a deep rooted details to the point to make the movie much more easier to digest. So skip the year end popcorn trash and give this a hit. One will not regret spending their time in the cinema for a production worth what they paid for.
Produced by Peter Chan Ho-Sun and directed by Teddy Chan (Downtown Torpedos, 1997; The Accidental Spy, 2001), the streets of Hong Kong in the early 20th century were created specially for Bodyguards and Assassins, which provides the audience with a sense of realism, and also to match the background of the story. This is one of the few Hong Kong and China productions which group several veteran actors and A-listed casts into the movie. The casts can be classified into two groups, namely the bodyguards and the assassins.
Businessman Li Yu Tang (Wang Xueqi) financially supported Dr Sun's revolution, with the assistance of Chen Shao Bai (Tony Leung Kar Fai), the founder of The China Times newspaper agency. Using the agency as the secret meeting ground, they recruited rickshaw puller Si (Nicholas Tse), hawker Ming (Basketball star Barter), beggar Bai (Leon Lai) and Hong (Li Yuchun), the daughter of former general Fang (Simon Yam), who was assassinated by Empress Dowager Cixi's assassins. When Yu Tang's only son, Chong Guan (Wang Bo Jie) enroll himself into the protection of Dr Sun, Yu Tang was forced to protect him at any cost. On the other side, Cixi ordered official Yan Xiaoguo (Hu Jun) to lead the assassination. With the assistance of Yang (Donnie Yen), a gambler, Yan comes with a perfect plan for the assassination, until Yang decided to risk his life to protect Dr Sun under the persuasion of his former wife (Fan Bingbing), who married herself to Yu Tang.
The trailer of Bodyguards and Assassins sells the movie as a form of martial art movie, which one will expect to be a full 2 hours 19 minutes martial art thriller. However, it would not make sense to drag all actions into a 2 hour film, while the incident takes only an hour. Thus, a clear description of the relationship between all the people involved in the protection and assassination were clearly explained to the point in the first hours. This helps to pave the way to the next hour, which supports the chaos that took place in Hong Kong upon the arrival of Dr Sun, where Chen believes that the journey will be paved with blood. This supports a line featured in the film: Revolution means sacrifice. The road to salvation is paved with blood.
One will tend to expect all the casts given equal share of appearances in the movie. However, the movie will mainly focus on Tang, Bai and Yan. The plot expands further and the rest of the cast will be introduced slowly, where their relationships intervene with each other. This is slightly different from the usual China/Hong Kong blockbusters, where A-listed casts are given heavier roles to expand. With Hong Kong pop sensation Jacky Cheung making a special appearance at the opening scene, it makes one feeling it is worth taking a trip down to the cinema to catch the show.
It is not often Asian cinema will get a piece of fantastic historical productions which boasts A-listed casts and veteran actors together, and also gives the story a deep rooted details to the point to make the movie much more easier to digest. So skip the year end popcorn trash and give this a hit. One will not regret spending their time in the cinema for a production worth what they paid for.