Bodyguards and assassins at GSC

On Sunday, I went to watch Bodyguards and Assassins with my sis and parents at GSC, Tropicana City Mall. Originally planned for the 9.20pm show, but changed to 11.55pm as the seats are way up front.

As we bought the tickets at 8.40pm, we realized we got way too much time before the movie. Even after having dinner at Esquire Kitchen, we had at least an hour left to go. Thankfully, the arcade was open and we spent our time there until the movie screening.

Finally, after 20 minutes of ads, the movie started with Jacky Cheung’s character talking about democracy and the future of China. He died within 5 minutes of the movie…..

If you read the synopsis for this movie before, then you would know that this movie is based on the real event that happened in 1906 in Hong Kong where Dr. Sun Yat Sen came to have a meeting with the 13 leaders to launch a rebellion against the Qing dynasty.

You would think that Sun Yat Sen is going to be the main character in this movie but it is wrong to think so. The main emphasis of this is the sacrifices made by those who want revolution and change the corrupt government so that there are equal rights for all the citizens of China.


The movie is spoken mainly in Cantonese and Mandarin and frankly speaking, this is one of those movies where they flesh out the main characters before the action starts. (Something rarely seen in Hong Kong movies).

The first hour of the show is used to build up the back story of the revolutionist, about their hardships on trying to make it happen with the Qing government, trying to kill off all of them who will help Sun Yat Sen.
As there are way too many characters to speak off, I will just make short descriptions instead.

Donnie Yen plays a HK police in the movie who is also a gambler. He helps the Qing government to spy Tony Leung Ka Fai who is one of the revolutionist which causes the death of Simon Yam who was a general and his former army men. Donnie Yen’ character makes up for it later by helping to fend off the assassins during the second half of the movie and you would not be disappointed for the action he provides.
Leon Lai plays the beggar who was once a rich guy who fell in love for his father’s wife. Not much to say about him until the second part where he kills off most of the assassins with his metal fan.
Nicholas Tse plays the character of Ah Se who works for his master, Mr Liu. His character is memorable as he is very helpful throughout the show and builds up the human aspect of the show.

There are more characters I don’t remember their names.
Anyways, the assassins in the movie are pretty skilled using crossbows, hooks and other concealable weapons to kill off the good guys.

The scenes where the characters die off makes you feel sad inside as I became attached to them during the first half. Especially, Ah Se who dies a day before his planned wedding.

Anyways, Bodyguards and Assassins is a much watch and I give it a 4 out of 5. There were some characters that they killed off too soon IMHO but still the action during the last hour makes up for it.