Legendary Assassin (2008)
Reviewed by: mrblue on 2009-03-21
Wu Jing has always seemed to be the perpetual "always the bridesmaid, never the bride" kind of guy in Hong Kong movies. He's solid enough in supporting roles, like in SPL, but can never seem to carry a film when he's the star. Now, with Legendary Assassin, Wu is not only the star, but a co-director as well. So will this finally be the movie that will launches him to the level of the A-listers?

Sadly, the answer is no. Legendary Assassin is all about ups and downs. The acting features seasoned veterans like Kara Hui, Lam Suet, and Alex Fong, who do a good job with their small roles. But then, on the other hand, the viewer is "treated" to actors like Celina Jade, who is very pretty, but can't speak Cantonese worth a damn. And don't get me started on Sammy Leung (I still refuse to call him just "Sammy") who still manages to out-stink epic Hong Kong acting duds like Michael Wong and Ekin Cheng. Someone please remind me exactly how the hell does this guy still get acting roles?

As for Legendary Assassin's action scenes, they also produce mixed results. There's really no doubt that Wu Jing is talented in the martial arts department -- one just needs to look at his fight versus Donnie Yen in SPL for proof of that -- but the kung fu here is so heavily wire-assisted that it feels like you could have really placed just about anybody in Wu Jing's place and gotten pretty much the same output. It doesn't help matters that a lot of the same moves (most notably spinning kicks) get repeated over and over, which ends up giving the fights a bit of a stale feeling towards the end of the film.

At its' core, though, Legendary Assassin is a passable enough movie for those looking for some brain-dead action fare. Despite its' problems, die-hard action/kung fu fans will probably still get a bit of a thrill from the proceedings. This film is the cinematic equivalent of a generic beat-em-up game like the SNES "classic" Rival Turf -- entertaining for a while, but a bit boring towards the end, and ultimately totally forgettable after you're done with it.
Reviewer Score: 6