The Assassins [2012]

The Assassins [2012]
Original Title: Tong que tai
China
Director: Linshan Zhao
My Rating: 10/10

I'll admit I'm biased on this one.  I love this particular era of Chinese history and every movie based on it.  The Three Kingdoms is an epic story that's too big for a single movie, but focus on specific events (Red Cliff) and characters (Cao Cao or Zhao Yun), these end up working quite well.  Rather than focus on his entire life, The Assassins focuses on Cao Cao's later years when he is already well established and immensely successful.

As the title implies, this is a movie about an assassination plot.  The target, Cao Cao, was a powerful figure often viewed retrospectively in a negative light.  Chow Yun-Fat's portrayal of the character doesn't do much to change that view and the theme and message of the movie is actually quite similar to Hero.  Theme aside, it's a very well made film.  The sets, costumes, acting, all of these are top notch.

The only bummer here is that other famous names from the time don't show up in the story.  His son Cao Pi is a central character, and Guan Yu has a few brief appearances in flashback, but there aren't a lot of others.  Lu Bu's halberd is shown, but no Lu Bu.  I get it, the movie isn't about the others, but it would have been nice to see Xiahou Dun or Zhang Liao here and there.  This is a minor grievance, I still give this movie a perfect score.