Bodyguards and Assassins [DVD]

Bodyguards and Assassins, despite having a bit of a wonky name, is a stunning picture. An all-star cast brings to life the story of revolutionaries and imperialists planning for the brief return to Hong Kong of an exile from Japan who, in one hour, is going to set in motion the wheels of an all out rebellion on mainland China.The first half of the movie is a pure drama, introducing a lot of characters and fully fleshing out their motivations and relationships with each other. The story of the movie is not especially meaty, but by turning it into such a character piece it more than makes up for it. It was completely involving and a joy to watch.Near the end of the first half of the movie, my adrenaline was already up for the second half. The pace was perfect, and it built up wonderfully to what I thought was the film's climax.Instead, it turned out that it wasn't the climax, but that the entire second of the movie is brutally action packed. Having become successfully invested in the characters during the first half, this was some truly gripping stuff. The action direction is top-notch as well, absolutely pulse-pounding.For a solid period epic, Bodyguards and Assassins certainly stands out as a great film that fans will appreciate.

Bias Alert!!! I am a die hard martial arts fan with over 300 in my personal collection. Adding to that bias is my fondness for Donnie Yen and my great desire to see action films. But the reason this reaches the level of 5 stars is because the storyline and the acting are both exceptional. This is the story of the revolutionary movement of 1905 in Hong Kong, China. I really like the way in which the director shows how this revolt touches the lives of different families both rich and poor. But if you know anything about my reviews. I am an action film specialist and the fight scenes in this film are extremely good and that is because there are several top notched fighters in this film. And although hand to hand is my first love in martial arts films. The action sequences in this film go well beyond that with arrows, knives, explosions, swords and more. Another thing that makes the action sequences so good is that the audience will truly believe that these people are willing to die for this cause.

When I first saw the trailer, I thought that this was just another martial arts movie with gimmicky stunts and wire work. But when I watched the movie, it did not appear like a martial arts movie at all. It felt like a serious historical drama on the tumultuous period of China when the Empress Dowager Xixi was trying to hold on to power and Sun Yat-Sen was trying to bring about a popular revolution. The martial arts sequences were just an added bonus. The many characters actually had depth to them. And while Donnie Yen was only a minor character, his fight sequence with the Mixed Martial Arts champion of the US was nothing short of tremendous.

I do not yet have the blu-ray in hand, but I have had this on my DVR for a few weeks now.I was a little sorry to see the story is largely fictionalized because the story is so very good. The title is a tad misleading: this is a story about an important period in Chinese history, condensed down to 5 days. Some of the figures are historical, but the actual occurrences (except for the summary of the following few years) are not. Please correct me if I'm wrong about this.This is a beautiful film. Wonderful performances from an ensemble cast. If you are deeply affected by self-sacrifice, the desire of a parent to protect his or her children, redemption and painful irony, you will deeply affected by this film. Besides the performances, the film is visually beautiful (not on the level of Hero, but getting there).Strongly recommended.

Came across the advertisement in 'Detective Dee' and wanted it. A very well laid out story of those who are trying to protect Sun Yet Sin, the father of modern China, and those who would try to hold onto the old ways.It is a long movie so make sure that you use the toilet before sitting down with the popcorn and soda. Some fight scenes you'll have to take with a grain of salt as they slide into some of the ridiculous with the jumping around and flying all over the place.But it is a well laid plot of those trying to bring China out of the feudal age into the Twentieth Century. A great film for those into history and martial arts mayhem.

Since my first viewing of Donnie Yen in martial arts film I have become a great fan of his. He is only one of threemartial arts actor I admire, the other two, Bruce Lee and Jet Li. What a great film the three of them together wouldhave really made if Bruce Lee wasn't deceased. I hope to collect all his films and even hope to have a bio of him,Donnie Yen, soon as it's made available. I thought Ip Man was awesome...but this was really great !!

Really good movie action packed I watched it twice and we'll watch it again

Movie did not have as much action as I expected and was only towards the end of the movie that the action got going. This movie was more of a historical perspective and was interesting from that standpoint, but was a bit boring at times.