Starring: Michelle Yeoh Choo Kheng, Jung Woo-sung, Kelly Lin Hsi-lei, Barbie Hsu Hsi-yuan Directors: Su Chao-pin and John Woo Yu-sum Category: IIB (Putonghua)
It may be marketed as 'the first martial arts actioner from John Woo' - and the director does conduct some secondary directing alongside Su Chao-pin as well as producing this film - but Reign of Assassins comes across less like a typical Woo film and more like a Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon wannabe.
The presence of Michelle Yeoh (right, with Jung Woo-sung) is the most obvious similarity.
And the sight of the star in a night fight scene that involves flying up a vertical wall and over rooftops definitely brings to mind one of the Ang Lee film's most exciting segments - all the more so as Yeoh's chief female opponent is a stubborn young thing in the mode of Zhang Ziyi's Crouching Tiger character.
This time around though, the MacGuffin in the picture is not a treasured sword but the sought-after remains of a mystical Buddhist monk, literally one half of which comes into the possession of a female assassin known as Drizzle (Kelly Lin) after she executes a hit on an imperial minister.
But rather than pass the precious relic to the Wheel King (Wang Xueqi) - head of the Dark Stone gang of killers and the man who taught her the deadly 'water-shedding' sword-fighting technique - Drizzle decides on a drastic change in lifestyle that involves having surgery to change her appearance so that she can lead a life of peace rather than violence.