Song of the Assassins (2022) Poster

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6/10
Visually Stunning Martial Arts Fantasy
tkdlifemagazine7 March 2023
Code of the Assassins is a Visually Stunning Martial Arts Fantasy. A Look at Code of the Assassins, a martial arts film of Chinese origin hitting US Streaming services and for sale this month. Here is a synopsis and review of this Well Go USA Entertainment release.

SYNOPSIS: After completing his training, an elite young assassin embarks on his first mission and is quickly ensnared in an intricate plot laid by powerful people pulling strings from the shadows. Upon failing to complete the assignment, he is forced to go on the run-from the government and rival assassin groups alike-as he seeks to unmask the players behind the conspiracy.

REVIEW: While this film's storyline takes some complicated twists and has many characters to keep up with it still moves along at a steady pace. The series of exciting and varied fight sequences pay homage to the Kung Fu movies of the 1960's and 70's, while adding a modern feel.

Code of the Assassins is martial arts in the Chinese style. This is not a gritty, street fighting martial arts film in the fashion of many of the modern Korean action films. It is the high flying, weapons, and stunt based in the Chinese Kung Fu tradition.

The film is visually stunning. The special effects, the costumes, the cinematography, and settings are all a feast for the eyes. The stunt and fight choreography are thoughtful, action packed, and fun to watch.

The acting, from the large cast, is perfect for the material. They understand that the roles they are playing are larger than life, fantasy characters, and they play to those characteristics. There is a lot of betrayal, double-crossing, and temporary alliances.

The plot involves the quest to protect a coveted map of ancestral treasures that was the basis for murders and betrayals. Revenge is as prominent here as it is in any martial arts films of the past half century. While there are a lot of unexplained things here, and much that is confusing, it really doesn't matter. This is a martial arts film in the purest form-the story is collateral to the martial arts and the action.

If you like Chinese Kung Fu movies this is a must see.
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3/10
It was okay'ish
satanreallylovesu31 March 2023
Cant go over 3 stars even if i wanted to. The story is weird, hardly makes any sense. So many new characters and plots get intoduced that you can barely even digest the last one you were thrown. The CGI is way overdone - would be a better movie with minimalistic CGI and more fight choreography. In the middle of the movie you lose track of everything and just try to enjoy the movie as what it is - a mindless sword swinging movie. I think the area design was A+. They took upon themselves to "Try" to make a complex plot which you could see from miles away, they try to reassure you its more complex but thats sadly not the case.
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9/10
Gold Mask Blue Ashura
soeprijo1910 June 2022
If you are into this ancient martial arts kind of movie, with all its secret society and weapons, then this one is definitely for you. The plot was not linear, with its back and forth, you have to pay attention not to lose it. The action sequences were excellent, coreographed by the master Corey Yuen (as cameo too). The setting was also believeable, although I'm pretty sure people of ancient Chinese kingdom didn't dress like that.

Worth watching 9/10.
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Over-the-top CGI for a very lame screenplay
MovieIQTest29 March 2023
All the fighting scenes and the weaponry designed by computer graphics are just too modern and laughably ridiculous. The formulaic screenplay, as usual, is another lame script by Chinese play writers. The costumes also looked too modern with strong influence of the western designers. The romance between the two leading characters is too weak to have any convincing chemistry. The dialog is also too weak and uninteresting. But the worst part is the horrible voice over, especially the female who was hired to be the voice-over for Lady Hua, without the subtitles for her, you wouldn't understand what she's talking about, the voice-over is extremely low and vague, it further deteriorated by the poor wooden acting of the actress who played Lady Hua.

As to the weaponry, well, they were so modern, even with flash bang, smoking grenades, flame thrower, first generation of grenades, high power dynamite that causing great explosions.

The whole movie is just like watching a Chinese made video game, a very boring one, nothing really interesting but full of westernized computer graphics. This movie is a Chinese version of John Wick, non-stop fighting scenes, all the characters are very difficult to be killed, the only difference between these two movies is NO GUNS, NO BULLETS.
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10/10
Dope
godsson-8995318 September 2023
Visually stunning. I'm a fan of martial arts movies. This was very different for the right reasons. Definitely a favorite. I would like to see a second. I know sequels usually don't do well but I think this would with a better story line. It's a different take to the martial arts genre. I've watched it a few times to see anything I would change. I would like to see each assassin's bio more in depth but it is what it is. I would fare to say it's a movie that they real thought out and used much creativity. If you haven't watched it as a martial arts, swords type of person you should. I've watched many. This hits different.
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