Long nga (Legendary Assassin) (2008)

Wu Jing (Jacky Wu) is one of the greater martial arts movie stars in Asia, but at this time, he needs some work with the directing. He isn't bad, but he isn't special. Chung Chi Li teams up with Wu Jing on the direction of Legendary Assassin and at the end of the day, it is just a typical Hong Kong action thriller.The plot is really weak, especially in the first 45 minutes, which is more than half the film. That's right, the run time is less than 90 minutes. The first half is all about the 2 main characters of Bo and Hiu Wor and the character buildup is pretty successful. A little long, but successful. The story doesn't start to pick up until the second part of the picture and it still isn't anything to brag about.The action comes in good amounts in the earlier parts of the film and while the choreography is well done, the editing and minimal slow motion shots are somewhat disappointing. Wu Jing can fight, so let's see him fight in real time. Well, what happens is it all comes out at the ending with Wu Jing kicking the crap out of 10s of 20s of guys in a single long battle. The camerawork is great and most of the brawl is in real time speed.There isn't much to the acting. Wu Jing is a typical silent hero. Nothing more. Nothing less. It is all about the fights with him. The beautiful Celina Jade shows the most acting talent and her few English lines are very understandable. The rest of the supporting cast is OK.Legendary Assassin is all about Wu Jing kicking butt, and it is that as well as Celina Jade that hold this movie together. Don't expect anything else out of this picture.

There is no doubting that but Jacky Wu, as a director, is too simple in scenes that should be more complicated and far too exaggerated in what should be more straight forward film-making. Having a bad story is alone a poor beginning, but that's not to say that Legendary Assassin is plain bad news. Having a bad story is alone a poor beginning, but that's not to say that Legendary Assassin is plain bad news. There are plenty of fight scenes that are alone worthy of the starving action fans' attention, including the restaurant fight which included a cameo by Ronald Cheng. A decent movie at best, average acting, some quality fight scenes, but in the end, Legendary Assassin disappoints as it just never seems to take off. The problem is the story, and then it comes down to some originally directing and the fact that this is an action movie, where adrenalin is meant to be rushing. However, this is not the case and the result is leaving the audience with disappointment and perhaps something better from Hong Kong's lone action cinema new generation hope with Jacky Wu. As mention before, there was one brutal fight scene that is of interest, in the restaurant fight during the heavy wind and rain, but apart from that those good moments are far and few in occurrence. Going on to the acting, there is no question that Jacky Wu is yet to experience what it is like to actually act. Here he is as stoic as ever or perhaps as wooden would provide a better description. While he graces the screen whenever he attempts to fight, his character is rather boring to follow. Turning to newcomer Celina Jade, she is actually likable and decently natural for a first timer. There was plenty of rawness in her acting, but somehow she manages to pull through to become one of the few good things about the movie. On another note, she looks great in uniform too. However, supporting players like Lik-Sun Fong and Ronald Cheng, either overacts or leaning towards annoying than likability. All in all, Legendary Assassin is really a disappointment and even a step back from Jacky Wu previous starring vehicles like Fatal Move or even Fatal Contact. Maybe Jacky Wu needs more time and work with more different kinds of director before donning the hat of a director. Whatever the case is, Legendary Assassin is by no means good enough for both a Jacky Wu's movie standard and the potential he can certainly reach. While it may seem rather critical, but sometimes, when some needs to be said, it owe to be spoken, and the reality is that Legendary Assassin is disappointingly below average and a clear step in the wrong direction of a promising career.