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Nguyen Vu is the sole survivor of his family who was executed by the empress of Vietnam. Upon discovering that his family may have been framed for crimes they did not commit, he sets out to bring justice and clear his family name.
I have reviewed many Vietnamese-produced movies recently. Some were solid films and others were laughable. Some were modern, conventional action movies but most of them have been period pieces, truly epic tales. “Sword of the Assassin” has to be my personal favorite to date. When his family is accused by the royal family of conspiring to kill the king, they are all massacred except for the youngest boy, Nguyen Vu (Huynh Dong), who manages to escape with the help of a family servant. He is raised and trained by a martial arts disciple and twelve years later, Nguyen learns the truth about what happened to his family and then sets out for revenge.
Along the way, he rescues a young woman, Xoa Xuan (Midu) from the clutches of the royal guards and as they get to know each other, he learns from her that the rest of her family were slaughtered at the same time that his family was killed, twelve years ago. Rumors abound in the kingdom that there is a blood letter, written by a royal eunuch, a reliable servant who fled the monarchy after uncovering that the queen might have killed her husband, the king, so that she could take control.
Along the way, Nguyen saves one of the royals, Vuong Gia (Van Anh) from an assassination attempt and the two become friends. Later on though, when Xoa’s sister is killed, Nguyen begins to have his suspicions about Vuong. Upon discovering that their families may have been framed for the crimes they were accused of and killed for, they set out to bring justice and clear their family names, once and for all.
“Sword of the Assassin” was an amalgamation of many different movie genres; action and adventure, romance, betrayal and the supernatural. I haven’t seen many movies that successfully combined all of these components but this film accomplishes it in droves. It is visually stunning and boasts breathtaking physical beauty. Director Victor Vu wisely shoots his film in majestic widescreen and we can see absolutely everything, from the interiors of lavish ornamented richness and costumes of outlandish elegance to the landscapes of mountain ranges, meadows and flowing waterfalls.
He also shoots his fight scenes with extended takes instead of the conventional overly-fast, quick cuts that are supposed to be exciting in action movies but in reality, are more of a headache than anything else. This movie is gorgeous to behold and what makes it even more alluring, is the acting by all involved. You feel compassion and empathy for the good guys and total disdain for the bad guys and it’s been a long time since a movie got me so worked up over a bad guy, that I physically wanted to reach into the screen and strangle him. Highly recommended.
In stores February 25th
