Night of the Assassins (1981)

Night of the Assassins (1981)
aka: Legend of the Assassinator; The Assassinator; Great Assassin; Stories of the Assassinators
Chinese Title: 刺客列傳
Translation: Assassin Biography

 

Starring: David Chiang, Shih Szu, Danny Lee, Kao Chiang, Wong Ching, Chu Ben-Ke, Wu Chia-Hsiang, Chang Chung-Kui, Chiu Ting, Tsai Hung
Director: Pao Hsueh-Li
Action Directors: Samuel Suen Sau-San, Li Long-Yin, Chang Chung-Kui

 

So we have another Taiwanese wuxia film based on a novel, this time by Sze-Ma. And like the recently-reviewed Mask of Vengeance, the source material was adapted to film by Katy Chin (who actually wrote some classic movies like The Heroes and Delightful Forest) and directed by her husband and partner Pao Hsueh-Li. This movie also has some of the same cast as Mask of Vengeance, including Shih Szu, Danny Lee, Wong Ching, and Kao Chiang. It even brought back two of that film’s action directors, Samuel Suen and Li Long-Yin. Considering the general mediocrity of Mask of Vengeance, I’m happy to report that Night of the Assassins is in many ways a better film.

Night of the Assassins is actually set in the Warring States era (circa 400 B.C.), even though the costumes (especially the military garb) belong to the Song Dynasty. In the kingdom of Chu (or Zhu or Zhou) lives Wu Tai-Shu (Mask of Vengeance’s Kao Chiang), a swordsman whose family was slaughtered by the current Chu king. His brother is killed in front of him by a treacherous Chu general and Wu Tai-Shu goes into hiding. One day, he wakes up with his hair all grey—no explanation is ever given for it—and he uses his new appearance to sneak past the checkpoints into a neighboring kingdom.

This neighboring kingdom—I think they’re called the Wu people—is run by the Duke (Wong Ching), who has run many a military campaign against the neighboring Chu. One of his princes, Kwang (Danny Lee, of Super InfraMan and The Killer), thinks that it is time for the Duke to go and a nicer, less bloodthirsty, guy to take his place. Like himself! Kwang is saved from an assassination attempt by Wu Tai-Shu and they make a pact: if Wu Tai-Shu helps Kwang depose the Duke, he will help Wu kill the Chu king.

Obviously, even if Kwang and Wu were to get past the Duke’s myriad of bodyguards and regular foot soldiers, he himself is a master swordsman. They need a sucker…I mean assassin…to do their dirty work for them. That is where Chuan Chu (David Chiang, of Shaolin Mantis and Vengeance!) comes in. Chuan Chu is a great swordsman who spends most of his time in the company of a courtesan, Yan Yan (Shih Szu). He would be the ideal person to try to kill the Duke without Wu and Kwang needing to sacrifice their own lives. They arrange for the military to arrest Yan Yan on spurious charges. When Chuan Chu inevitably steps in to protect her, he finds himself overpowered by the Duke’s guards. He is rescued by Wu Tai-Shu and Yan Yan is rescued by Prince Kwang. Kwang marries the two and gives them a royal estate to raise a family in exchange for a favor: when the time comes, Chuan Chu will have to kill the Duke.

Some of the politics is a bit murky due to the dubbing, but I eventually was able to put all the pieces in place without having to watch the movie a second time. The story is not especially complex, although the themes certainly are. The Duke is certainly not a standout guy: he orders Kwang’s assassination simply for suggesting that he lower taxes and quit his pointless military campaign against the Chu people…(the more things change, the more they stay the same). Beyond that, he is not portrayed as being aggressively evil, at least not with his subjects. Yeah, they talk about him forcing them to build a new palace while in the middle of a war, but we don’t see it. Does he deserve to be assassinated? The movie doesn’t show enough of his evil deeds to make a truly compelling argument for regicide.

Kwang has the outward appearance of a righteous man and potentially-righteous ruler, even if he is willing to throw another man’s life away in pursuit of his objectives. The ending plays out a bit as expected, although Kwang and Wu ultimately don’t have to pay the consequences of their actions. Nonetheless, the ending implies they are fully aware of the moral costs of their assassination plan, so it may be a hollow victory after all. Chuan Chu’s decision to go along with Kwang’s plan comes with consequences of its own, even if Kwan doesn’t feel them until years later. I have to admit, however, that some of the tragic scenes that occur during the execution of the assassination plot don’t really make any sense…muddled motives and all that.

Beyond that, I would say that the big problem in Katy Chin’s script is that it suffers a little from protagonist toggling. The movie opens with Wu Tai-Shu’s story, namely the murder of his brother (and last-living kinsman) and his desire for revenge against the Chu king. As we draw closer to the attempt on the Duke’s life, Wu Tai-Shu becomes less important and the story becomes more about Chuan Chu and how the assassination plot affects his family. On one level, that makes sense, since Chuan has a family and we as a viewer might sympathize more with the Chuan household than a loner like Wu. Some viewers, however, might ask why the story didn’t just focus on Chuan in the first place and simply treat Wu Tai-Shu as a supporting character.

The fight scenes were arranged by Samuel Suen, Li Long-Yin and Chang Chung-Kui. Chang Chung-Kui was stuntman or extra in more than 150 movies going back to 1971. He has over 20 credits as action director, including a number of adult-oriented action movies in the 1990s. Night of the Assassins was his only old school film. Some might recognize his name on a couple of Yukari Oshima’s lesser films, like Tiger Angels and Angel of Vengeance. Considering the pedigree of these three men, I was surprised at how good the action turned out. We aren’t quite talking about Ching Siu-Tung level of swordplay here, but it’s solid. It is actually better than the action in Samurai Death Bells and Mask of Vengeance, which featured the more seasoned Chen Mu-Chuan in the choreographer’s chair. The swordplay in those movies was either slow or felt too much like a Western swashbuckler.

The sword fighting here is a lot snappier in its execution than those movies. It also has that acrobatic quality that you see in Chinese sword forms without feeling like a synchronized dance routine. It hits that comfortable middle ground in that the choreography is undoubtedly Chinese, but not over-choreographed to the point where it loses all sense of danger. David Chiang fights with his fists, a sword and daggers in his fights and looks surprisingly good in them. Chiang was always hit and miss in his fight scenes, but Suen and company get a solid martial performance out of him. This was the same year he made Return of the Deadly Blade, which also had some very good swordplay from Mr. Chiang. I’ve definitely seen worse from him, that’s for sure. The other actors acquit themselves well, although femme fatale fans will be disappointed to learn that Shih Szu’s role is only a dramatic one.

Of all the movies that Crash Cinema released on DVD in the early 2000s as part of their numerous “collections”, Night of the Assassins is one of the better films they released. It has decent production values, well-choreographed fight scenes, and a great cast. The pace flounders from time to time, but it’s a good movie overall.