The Lady Assassin / Ching gung kai si luk (1983)

THE LADY ASSASSIN (1982) is another entertaining kung fu/swordplay/costume adventure from Hong Kong's Shaw Bros. studio. It deals with a battle over succession to the Ching dynasty throne and the various kung fu fighters who get involved on behalf of the opposing factions. It starts out when the 4th Prince, one of over a dozen heirs eligible to succeed the Emperor, solicits a scholar for help and agrees to lift Ching-instituted sanctions on the Han majority if the scholar, a noted opponent of the Ching regime, will alter a letter on the imperial decree of succession so that the next in line is not the designated 14th Prince, as specified in the decree signed by the dying Emperor, but the 4th. Upon the death of the Emperor, the 4th Prince ascends to the throne and proceeds to betray the ones who'd aided in the trickery–the scholar, Lui Liu Niang, and his pretty niece, fighting femme Si Niang. The rest of the film involves the new Emperor's attempts to suppress dissent, fend off assassination attempts and cover up the forgery that put him on the throne.

While the plot is engaging, it suffers from too fast a pace and the dropping of characters and plot strands arbitrarily, not to mention an abrupt ending. But at least we're never bored. Above all, it's a good-looking film with a great cast and large helpings of full-out fight scenes with all the requisite acrobatic flips, high leaps and flying swords and daggers you could want. Its hyperactive style should be familiar to fans who've seen other films by the same director, Lu Chun Ku.