CineAsia Spotlight: Bodyguards & Assassins

Here's another big screen-worthy CineAsia title that almost slipped under my radar! It may be a bit late to plug this now - it appears its SkyCity Cinema run is coming to an end - but if you're an Asian cinema fan reading this, Bodyguards & Assassins is well-worth 2.5 hours of your time. It's a BIG-budget historical epic set in 1905 about a group of ragtag bodyguards assigned to escort the arrival of revolutionary leader Dr. Sun Yat-sen when he visits Hong Kong with plans to overthrow the Qing Dynasty. Think Seven Samurai meets 16 Blocks. The star wattage on this production is off-the-charts, a practical who's-who of HK cinema - Donnie Yen, Simon Yam, Leon Lai, Nicolas Tse, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Eric Tsang, Xueqi Wang, Philip Ng - and there's some brutal, hair-raising action in the second half of the film that'll get your heart pumpin' after a solid hour of character/plot build-up (no, it's not a straight-up kung fu movie a la Ip Man). Ok, so it's melodramatic and fist-pumpingly nationalistic (though not unexpectedly), but it's also entertaining, well-acted and emotionally involving, one of the better Chinese historical flicks of late. Here's the trailer:

Kung Fu Dream Team Soon to be a Reality

So it appears this guy...


...is going to star in a film with this guy...


...and also this guy...

I'm less enthused about the third guy, but otherwise, what can I say? BOOM. Bring it on. I was actually just thinking about this recently after watching Ong Bak 2. Tony Jaa and Donnie Yen staring each other down. Trading blows. Kicks. Elbows. Pummeling each other. It's every kung fu fan's dream movie. Twitch has reported that this Hong Kong production, called Vanguard, is to start shooting in April.

Take a look at these clips and imagine these two fighting together:





If that isn't the definition of "bad-assery" I don't know what is.