Film: Bodyguards And Assassins
Release date: 31st May 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 139 mins
Director: Teddy Chan
Starring: Donnie Yen, Leon Lai, Xueqi Wang, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Nicholas Tse, Simon Yam
Genre: Action/Martial Arts/Drama
Studio: E1
Format: DVD
Country: China/Hong Kong
The starriest cast in recent memory assemble for an epic tribute to one of the most important figures in Chinese history. The scene is set for a crushing disappointment, or an outright classic. But which?
Hong Kong, 1905. Dr Sun Yat-sen heads for the British colony in order to discuss his plans for a rebellion against the oppressive Qing Dynasty. But when word of his travels reaches the Imperial Court, assassins are sent to intercept him.
Committed revolutionary Chen Xiao-bai (Leung) anticipates this, and seeks the assistance of ‘Boss’ Li Yu-tang (Wang Xue-qi), a sympathetic businessman who worries that his 17-year-old only son, Chong-kwong (Wang Po-chieh), will suffer a grave fate if he continues down a political road. With ‘Boss Li’ providing financial support, the revolutionaries look to ensure Dr Sun’s plans are carried out. But when the Imperial Assassins begin picking off the rebels, Chen knows that his leader’s life is in grave danger.
Chen constructs a daring scheme to protect Dr Sun and throw the Imperial villains off the scent. To do this, he will need the assistance of an unlikely group of local heroes, each with their own story to tell…
A simple plot description, like the one above, of Bodyguards And Assassins could not hope to encompass each of the dozen-strong central cast, and their respective arcs and dynamics. This is grand, ambitious storytelling on a scale Western audiences might think surprising for a cinema thought of (often wrongly) as trading more in spectacle than in narrative sophistication. And while the big cast of characters are often not much more than familiar cinematic archetypes (including the quiet, academic revolutionary; the big-hearted simpleton; the estranged daughter; the concerned patriarch), the litany of Chinese/Hong Kong stars and superstars of several generations do their utmost to ensure that each of them is memorable.
It’s to the cast’s credit that the film is held together during a difficult, and somewhat clunky opening twenty minutes, as director Teddy Chen bounces from one character to the next, busily setting everyone up and winning audience affection as quickly as possible. And as the film dilutes it historical politics with odd, mostly unsuccessful comedy, we begin to fear that this starry ensemble is going to be too big to keep track of, and that the web of relationships will prove too confusing. But once everyone is introduced, the film seems to gain focus, with Tony Ka Fai Leung’s upstanding Chen Xiao-bai plotting with exiled Qing soldier Fang Tian (an effective Simon Yam cameo).
Then, acid-wielding ninjas crash through the ceiling and set about assassinating the revolutionaries in a skirmish that, though well-staged and exciting, feels very out of place in what was beginning to shape up as a rich, historical drama. That the action is choreographed with the kind of stylised movements that border on the supernatural prompts an audience to ponder exactly what sort of film they’re watching - worthy epic, or fight flick? It soon becomes clear that the answer is a bit of both.
As the central players are moved into position, Chen sets up the core premise of his film - that each of the dozen-strong cast will gather together to hold off the Imperial soldiers from attacking the convoy taking Dr Sun to his clandestine meeting, and run a decoy mission to keep them off the scent while the meeting is underway. Suddenly, Chen’s big-budget cinematic history lesson becomes an intriguing, and potentially ingenuous high concept period thrill-ride.
Moving into an enthralling, near-real-time second hour, as the heroic rebels come under attack from soldiers, ninjas and local mobs, with a succession of exhausting and emotional personal sacrifices, Bodyguards And Assassins ultimately does find a unique cinematic identity. If the resulting action sequence - draining in its length, exhilarating in its relentlessness - is not quite unique in its style and staging, it nevertheless makes for something approaching a brand new movie-going experience. To turn key Chinese history into a traditional, cinematic rollercoaster is a bold move, but Chen pulls it off, successfully marrying a Chinese and Hong Kong-style ‘fable’ with Hollywood-esque scope and grandeur.
As mentioned, the cast of this film is just about the largest collection of Chinese/Hong Kong stars in recent memory, and to a man they do some of their best work. Often considered the lesser of the two, Tony Leung’s ‘Big Tony’ Ka Fai is an appealing presence in what could have been the rather dull part of single-minded rebel Chen Xiao-bai - Leung makes the most of a meaty moral dilemma (his personal conflict surrounding the risk to his friend’s son, employed as a decoy for Sun Yat-sen), and is one of two anchors the script leans on to ensure it does not drift into narrative chaos.
The other anchor is Wang Xueqi, the eldest of the cast, in the role of Li Yu-tang. His journey from ambivalence to political conviction and determination amounts to perhaps the lone traditional ‘character arc’ in the film, and Wang is quietly immense as his character finds reserves of strength and will he had thought lost. It is a tremendous, un-showy performance, rightly acknowledged at award ceremonies throughout Asia in 2010.
The rest of the cast do their part and hold their own. Donnie Yen continues to operate outside his comfort zone, following his well-received turn in Ip Man with a performance here - as a conflicted Hong Kong police constable - that is more understated than his usual style, and completely without vanity. Nicholas Tse has never been better as ‘Four’, the illiterate Li family rickshaw driver who wants nothing more than to get married if he survives this tumultuous day. Fan Bingbing brings grace to a largely thankless role as Li Yu-tang’s fourth mistress who has a romantic past with Yen’s policemen. Leon Lai is a perhaps a strange choice for the role of a beggar who happens to be a martial arts master whom the rebels count on for the most important part of their plan, but as one of Canto pop’s ‘Four Heavenly Kings’, he brings the necessary gravitas.
Another of the ‘Kings’, Jacky Cheung, features in a stunning one-scene cameo, the best of a trio (the others being Eric Tsang and, bizarrely, Michelle Monique Reis) who turn up to further sprinkle somewhat distracting stardust on proceedings.
Visually, the film is utterly immaculate. Arthur Wong’s cinematography is typically beautiful, and the production design’s realisation of Hong Kong’s Central District in the early 20th century is a true wonder (wide shots of Hong Kong Island viewed from the other side of the harbour are almost heart-stopping in their detail and splendour).
Bodyguards And Assassins is a quality production, a true Asian ‘event’ movie, and fantastically enthralling two hours. If the parts don’t quite fit into a consistent whole, that should not at all detract from the sumptuous production values and terrifically thrilling action.
Ultimately not quite the classic it could have been (and thinks it is), but this flawed, messy epic is engrossing and powerful, knowing what audience strings to pull. Agonisingly close to greatness. JN
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