TV Review: Wu Assassins (2019). Fast paced martial arts action weighed down by an over complicated script.

Tv Review: Wu Assassins (2019) by Ben Jeffries (15/8/2019)
Season 1, Original Release: 8/8/2019
10 episodes
Action, Martial Arts, Drama, Supernatural,
Streaming Worldwide on Netflix
The excellent martial arts sequences aren’t enough to elevate this Kung Fu fantasy above it’s clunky writing.
Kai Jin (Iko Uwais) is a young chef, working to achieve his modest dream of running his own food truck while navigating the dangerous streets of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Kai does his best to stay out of trouble and avoid the local Triad gang members, but when he crosses paths with Ying Ying (Celia Au), an ancient spirit, who bestows a supernatural relic on an unwilling Kai, giving him mystical powers. Kai becomes the Wu Assassin and he finds himself in more trouble than he could ever have imagined. As the Wu Assassin his mission is to kill the five Warlords, who wield the elemental forces of the Wu Xing, before they can combine their powers and destroy the world. With furiously flying fists and feet, Wu Assassins is punctuated by some excellent sequences of martial arts action, but the show has trouble maintaining narrative momentum in any given direction for more than an episode or two, and the constantly shifting focus leaves the story feeling fractured, cluttered and incomplete.
The draw here is the martial arts action. Expectations are automatically high with Iko Uwais playing the lead role of Kai, given his previous roles in modern action classics like The Raid movies, and the fast paced, high intensity action scenes set a high water mark for the show. The choreography is complicated, performed at blistering speed, and presents the kind of brutal efficiency Uwais has become known for. The fight scenes are well directed, using careful placement of the camera to capture the action in a way that lets the athletic skills of the stunt performers sell the hits rather than interfering in the scene with shaky camera work and choppy editing. Unfortunately, the high water mark set by the action is a little too high for any other element of the show to reach.
The writing is wobbly and unbalanced, switching without warning from one mode to another: in one scene a Triad gang story, in another a historical fantasy epic, in a third a tense family drama, but the show never manages to establish a unifying element which links those different vibes.
The screenplay is fond of the surprise twist; it’s the primary mechanic used to propel the narrative throughout the series. Every time you think you’re getting a grip on what the show is trying to be it sidesteps or pivots, and the audience is left trying to catch up as the show spins off on some tangential new direction. It’s how the story opens; for the first 15 minutes Wu Assassins presents itself like an urban gang drama but then, as he’s escaping a fight with some Triad thugs, Kai literally runs into the spirit Ying Ying with a truck, and she proceeds to spend the next five minutes dumping mystical exposition on him and, by proxy, the audience. She tells him about the thousand monks who sacrificed themselves to give the Wu Assassin the power to confront and kill the five warlords of the Wu Xing who each command an elemental power; Fire, Water, Earth, Wood, and Metal. There’s no ramp up or careful table setting to clue the audience into the magical elements of the story. There’s no hint that a capital “D” Destiny awaits Kai. They, much like Ying Ying, just suddenly appear out of nowhere to derail the fledgling crime story and send the show ricocheting off at a wild new trajectory.
Time after time the show sets up a plot point or a characters motivation, only to have it retconned episodes later. After establishing Kai’s adoptive father, the Triad boss Uncle Six, as one of the five Wu Warlords and a “Big Bad” during the early episodes, the show has a sudden change of heart around episode 4 and Six agrees to give up his powers in a an act of conciliation. Apparently the audience is expected to just forget that Six is a ruthless crime lord who used his supernatural fire abilities to burn people alive, who was happy to kill the Wu Assassin and carry on being an evil mastermind until he learned it was Kai he’d have to kill. Instead we’re just supposed to accept his change of heart and think of him as Kai’s estranged father, doing his best to reconcile, like a dad who missed a few birthdays instead of a monster who took his teenage son to a gangland execution.
As the Wu Assassin, Kai gains a few special abilities. In a short montage Ying Ying plays Yoda to Kai’s Luke Skywalker, explaining that he can develop his resistance to the elements which his Wu enemies will use against him. Fire no longer burns him, he’s apparently unable to drown, with his bare hands Kai destroys a massive boulder, punching it into fragments. Another ability of the Wu Assassin is that of being able to physically change their appearance into that of any of the 999 previous people to bear the title of Wu Assassins. It’s an ability which allows the Assassin to hide their true identity from their targets, like a superhero’s mask or cowl, and the face Kai ends up wearing as he steps into battle is that of an older, bald man (Mark Dacascos). It’s an idea that the show seems really in love with for a few episodes; there’s a lot of complicated editing during fight sequences which cut between Kai’s point of view where he wears his own face, that of actor Iko Uwais, and the point of view of his opponents or bystanders which see him as the old bald monk. But as Six is the only Wu Warlord who knows Kai’s real identity, as soon as he defects to the side of good that power is totally pointless and the old bald monk is never seen again.
There’s a lack of continuity to the writing which makes the show feel frustratingly imprecise. From moment to moment it can’t decide if it wants to be an edgy martial arts superhero tale, a gritty gangland thriller, or a kung fu fantasy adventure. Story threads are set up only to be left dangling episodes later, none of the major story beats feels earned, characters are introduced or sidelined at odd points in the story, and their motivations feel poorly defined and nebulous most of the time. Like an inexperienced chef adding too many ingredients to a sauce, Wu Assassins never nails down the right balance of elements that would deliver the flavour it’s trying to find.
As Kai kicks and punches his way through the series, engaging in magical battles with his super powered enemies, the show uses digital effects to enhance the action scenes. Fireballs are thrown, boulders hurled, metal flows and reshapes itself, branches and roots rise from the ground to trip and tangle and streams of water float through the air to knock down struggling combatants. The effects work is a crucial element to the believability of the action, and it ranges from nostalgically unsophisticated to just plain ugly, while the heavy use of film grain during certain scenes brings to mind 80’s classics like Big Trouble in Little China or one of the lesser Highlander films as the show tries unsuccessfully to blur the seams between the practical and the digital elements. It’s one of the least exciting elements of the show and applies a sheen of “B-grade” to every scene that features digital effects.
If you can find a way to look past the confusing story telling and ugly effects there are some solid performances from the cast. Kathryn Winnick (Vikings) is doing interesting things as C.G. the hardened undercover cop who gets caught up in Kai’s mystical crusade. Uncle Six, played by Byron Mann (The Expanse), is interestingly complicated; made up of equal parts ruthless crime lord and doting father. Mann threads a careful course with his performance, avoiding the moustache twirling bad guy that Six could easily become. Lawrence Kao (The Originals) is the standout performance of the show as Tommy Wah. Where everyone else is engaging with the material at face value, Kao brings his characters internal struggles into every scene in a way that informs and grounds his performance. Iko Uwais (The Raid) is an interesting choice for the lead role of Kai. His martial arts skills are impeccable and he single handedly powers the shows action scenes, but his dramatic performance muscles are less well developed. He’s working at a disadvantage, English is his second language and the script doesn’t give him a lot to work with. In the scenes where Kai has a singular motivation, a driving passion, Uwais finds some fire but those scenes are exceptions to the rule and for a lot of the shows runtime Kai feels as much a passenger as the audience.
Wu Assassins has the makings of two or three interesting shows in it’s DNA, but refuses to settle on any of them and ends up as a lumpy porridge of ideas. The martial arts fight scenes are some of the best you’ll see on a screen this year, big or small, and if you have a love for old school, anything goes, Hong Kong cinema like the Shaw Brothers classics then you’ll probably find something to like here. For everyone else, the show will more than likely feel unnecessarily over complicated, and the excellent fight scenes will be too far and few between to hold the audiences attention.
4.5/10
Wu Assassins is Produced by: Flame Ventures, Netflix, Nomadic Pictures
Distributed by: Netflix
Created By: Tony Krantz, John Wirth
Written by: Jessica Chou, Yalun Tu, Cameron Litvak, David Simkins, Julie Benson, Shawna Benson
Directed by: Toa Fraser, Stephen Fung, Michael Nankin, Roel Reine, Katheryn Winnick
Starring: Iko Uwais, Byron Mann, Li Jun Li, Lawrence Kao, Katheryn Winnick, JuJu Chan, Lewis Tan, Celia Au, Tommy Flanagan, Mark Dacascos,
Cinematography: John S. Bartley
Music: Jeehun Hwang
 |
| Image Courtesy of Netflix |
Tv Review: Wu Assassins (2019) by Ben Jeffries (15/8/2019)
Season 1, Original Release: 8/8/2019
10 episodes
Action, Martial Arts, Drama, Supernatural,
Streaming Worldwide on Netflix
The excellent martial arts sequences aren’t enough to elevate this Kung Fu fantasy above it’s clunky writing.
Kai Jin (Iko Uwais) is a young chef, working to achieve his modest dream of running his own food truck while navigating the dangerous streets of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Kai does his best to stay out of trouble and avoid the local Triad gang members, but when he crosses paths with Ying Ying (Celia Au), an ancient spirit, who bestows a supernatural relic on an unwilling Kai, giving him mystical powers. Kai becomes the Wu Assassin and he finds himself in more trouble than he could ever have imagined. As the Wu Assassin his mission is to kill the five Warlords, who wield the elemental forces of the Wu Xing, before they can combine their powers and destroy the world. With furiously flying fists and feet, Wu Assassins is punctuated by some excellent sequences of martial arts action, but the show has trouble maintaining narrative momentum in any given direction for more than an episode or two, and the constantly shifting focus leaves the story feeling fractured, cluttered and incomplete.
The draw here is the martial arts action. Expectations are automatically high with Iko Uwais playing the lead role of Kai, given his previous roles in modern action classics like The Raid movies, and the fast paced, high intensity action scenes set a high water mark for the show. The choreography is complicated, performed at blistering speed, and presents the kind of brutal efficiency Uwais has become known for. The fight scenes are well directed, using careful placement of the camera to capture the action in a way that lets the athletic skills of the stunt performers sell the hits rather than interfering in the scene with shaky camera work and choppy editing. Unfortunately, the high water mark set by the action is a little too high for any other element of the show to reach.
The writing is wobbly and unbalanced, switching without warning from one mode to another: in one scene a Triad gang story, in another a historical fantasy epic, in a third a tense family drama, but the show never manages to establish a unifying element which links those different vibes.
The screenplay is fond of the surprise twist; it’s the primary mechanic used to propel the narrative throughout the series. Every time you think you’re getting a grip on what the show is trying to be it sidesteps or pivots, and the audience is left trying to catch up as the show spins off on some tangential new direction. It’s how the story opens; for the first 15 minutes Wu Assassins presents itself like an urban gang drama but then, as he’s escaping a fight with some Triad thugs, Kai literally runs into the spirit Ying Ying with a truck, and she proceeds to spend the next five minutes dumping mystical exposition on him and, by proxy, the audience. She tells him about the thousand monks who sacrificed themselves to give the Wu Assassin the power to confront and kill the five warlords of the Wu Xing who each command an elemental power; Fire, Water, Earth, Wood, and Metal. There’s no ramp up or careful table setting to clue the audience into the magical elements of the story. There’s no hint that a capital “D” Destiny awaits Kai. They, much like Ying Ying, just suddenly appear out of nowhere to derail the fledgling crime story and send the show ricocheting off at a wild new trajectory.
Time after time the show sets up a plot point or a characters motivation, only to have it retconned episodes later. After establishing Kai’s adoptive father, the Triad boss Uncle Six, as one of the five Wu Warlords and a “Big Bad” during the early episodes, the show has a sudden change of heart around episode 4 and Six agrees to give up his powers in a an act of conciliation. Apparently the audience is expected to just forget that Six is a ruthless crime lord who used his supernatural fire abilities to burn people alive, who was happy to kill the Wu Assassin and carry on being an evil mastermind until he learned it was Kai he’d have to kill. Instead we’re just supposed to accept his change of heart and think of him as Kai’s estranged father, doing his best to reconcile, like a dad who missed a few birthdays instead of a monster who took his teenage son to a gangland execution.
As the Wu Assassin, Kai gains a few special abilities. In a short montage Ying Ying plays Yoda to Kai’s Luke Skywalker, explaining that he can develop his resistance to the elements which his Wu enemies will use against him. Fire no longer burns him, he’s apparently unable to drown, with his bare hands Kai destroys a massive boulder, punching it into fragments. Another ability of the Wu Assassin is that of being able to physically change their appearance into that of any of the 999 previous people to bear the title of Wu Assassins. It’s an ability which allows the Assassin to hide their true identity from their targets, like a superhero’s mask or cowl, and the face Kai ends up wearing as he steps into battle is that of an older, bald man (Mark Dacascos). It’s an idea that the show seems really in love with for a few episodes; there’s a lot of complicated editing during fight sequences which cut between Kai’s point of view where he wears his own face, that of actor Iko Uwais, and the point of view of his opponents or bystanders which see him as the old bald monk. But as Six is the only Wu Warlord who knows Kai’s real identity, as soon as he defects to the side of good that power is totally pointless and the old bald monk is never seen again.
There’s a lack of continuity to the writing which makes the show feel frustratingly imprecise. From moment to moment it can’t decide if it wants to be an edgy martial arts superhero tale, a gritty gangland thriller, or a kung fu fantasy adventure. Story threads are set up only to be left dangling episodes later, none of the major story beats feels earned, characters are introduced or sidelined at odd points in the story, and their motivations feel poorly defined and nebulous most of the time. Like an inexperienced chef adding too many ingredients to a sauce, Wu Assassins never nails down the right balance of elements that would deliver the flavour it’s trying to find.
As Kai kicks and punches his way through the series, engaging in magical battles with his super powered enemies, the show uses digital effects to enhance the action scenes. Fireballs are thrown, boulders hurled, metal flows and reshapes itself, branches and roots rise from the ground to trip and tangle and streams of water float through the air to knock down struggling combatants. The effects work is a crucial element to the believability of the action, and it ranges from nostalgically unsophisticated to just plain ugly, while the heavy use of film grain during certain scenes brings to mind 80’s classics like Big Trouble in Little China or one of the lesser Highlander films as the show tries unsuccessfully to blur the seams between the practical and the digital elements. It’s one of the least exciting elements of the show and applies a sheen of “B-grade” to every scene that features digital effects.
If you can find a way to look past the confusing story telling and ugly effects there are some solid performances from the cast. Kathryn Winnick (Vikings) is doing interesting things as C.G. the hardened undercover cop who gets caught up in Kai’s mystical crusade. Uncle Six, played by Byron Mann (The Expanse), is interestingly complicated; made up of equal parts ruthless crime lord and doting father. Mann threads a careful course with his performance, avoiding the moustache twirling bad guy that Six could easily become. Lawrence Kao (The Originals) is the standout performance of the show as Tommy Wah. Where everyone else is engaging with the material at face value, Kao brings his characters internal struggles into every scene in a way that informs and grounds his performance. Iko Uwais (The Raid) is an interesting choice for the lead role of Kai. His martial arts skills are impeccable and he single handedly powers the shows action scenes, but his dramatic performance muscles are less well developed. He’s working at a disadvantage, English is his second language and the script doesn’t give him a lot to work with. In the scenes where Kai has a singular motivation, a driving passion, Uwais finds some fire but those scenes are exceptions to the rule and for a lot of the shows runtime Kai feels as much a passenger as the audience.
Wu Assassins has the makings of two or three interesting shows in it’s DNA, but refuses to settle on any of them and ends up as a lumpy porridge of ideas. The martial arts fight scenes are some of the best you’ll see on a screen this year, big or small, and if you have a love for old school, anything goes, Hong Kong cinema like the Shaw Brothers classics then you’ll probably find something to like here. For everyone else, the show will more than likely feel unnecessarily over complicated, and the excellent fight scenes will be too far and few between to hold the audiences attention.
4.5/10
Wu Assassins is Produced by: Flame Ventures, Netflix, Nomadic Pictures
Distributed by: Netflix
Created By: Tony Krantz, John Wirth
Written by: Jessica Chou, Yalun Tu, Cameron Litvak, David Simkins, Julie Benson, Shawna Benson
Directed by: Toa Fraser, Stephen Fung, Michael Nankin, Roel Reine, Katheryn Winnick
Starring: Iko Uwais, Byron Mann, Li Jun Li, Lawrence Kao, Katheryn Winnick, JuJu Chan, Lewis Tan, Celia Au, Tommy Flanagan, Mark Dacascos,
Cinematography: John S. Bartley
Music: Jeehun Hwang
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