At a time when wuxia (martial arts) film was pursuing ever larger, grander, and more spectacular productions, Reign of Assassins turns away from the massive crowd scenes and excessive CGI to revive the essence of the wuxia film, focusing instead on the faces of its characters and the details of their every movement. The film bears the signatures of its co-directors, Su Chao-Pin and John Woo - a setup reminiscent of Woo’s Hollywood debut Face/Off, and the caper-film elements that come to the fore in the second half of the film which seem to bear Su’s traces. Yet both directors appear to share a desire to make a wuxia film that is true to the genre. The fight scenes in Reign of Assassins are spare and unadorned. From the exquisite tension of swords clashing and blades grazing the body to the futility of death felt through the wounded bodies of martial-arts masters, the film revives the classical pleasures unique to wuxia films. One little aside: have you ever seen a film where Michelle Yeoh ends up with the person she loves? In that respect, Reign of Assassins will remain a very special film for Yeoh, and also for you.
Su Chao-Pin is a Taiwanese filmmaker who trained as an engineer before turning to filmmaking. He began to gain recognition for writing the screenplay for The Cabbie (2000) and co-writing Double Vision (2002). His film Silk (2006) was selected for the Cannes Film Festival, and in 2010, he wrote and directed Reign of Assassins, for which he won Best Director at the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards.
From Busan International Film Festival 2026, No. 31
Born in China in 1946, John Woo grew up in Hong Kong. In 1986, he directed A Better Tomorrow, which established his distinctive directorial aesthetics combining the "Gun Fu" style and lyrical violence. He went on to direct masterpieces like The Killer (1989) and Hard Boiled (1992), before moving to Hollywood, where he directed Face/Off (1997), Mission: Impossible II (2000), and other major productions. In 2010, he received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival.
From Busan International Film Festival 2026, No. 31
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