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Film / Judgement of an Assassin

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So... which one of these guys are the titular assassin? note 

Judgement of an Assassin is a 1977 Wuxia movie produced by Shaw Brothers, directed by Chung Sun (of The Avenging Eagle fame), starring David Chiang and Michael Chan.

The life of an assassin in the Ming Dynasty is wrought with vengeance, ego, thirst for power, and of course bloodbath. When a massacre happens in the ranks of the Golden Axe Clan where 21 members are slaughtered, Madam Si Gu, leader of the clan and her dedicated follower, Old Hedgehog, must investigate whomever may be responsible for the slaughter. Among those implicated in the crime includes Hei-mo, the Swift Sword (Chiang), Man Ying-tai the Golden Whip, and a long-forgotten enemy of the martial arts world, thought to be long dead, called the Bloody Devil...

One of the last wuxia movies starring David Chiang which he made with Shaw Brothers, save for a cameo in Death Duel. David Chiang would eventually move to Golden Harvest later on in his career a few years after this movie's release.


This film contains examples of:

  • Badass Cape: Most of the martial arts seniors, including Old Hedgehog, Master Tan Ying, Chief Law Qun and a few others.
  • Badass Teacher: Hei-mo’s teacher, who raises him and teaches him martial arts, and even taking on Bloody Devil in the final battle.
  • Bald of Evil: The Bloody Devil doesn’t have a single hair on his head, but he does have long flowing locks running down his sides.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Hei-mo and Miss Sek arriving in the Hua Mansion at the end to stop Bloody Devil’s rampage. Subverted that they come a few minutes too late, at which point Bloody Devil have carved a bloody path through scores and scores of redshirts, and have even killed Old Hedgehog and Madam Si Gu. But at least they’re in time to stop Bloody Devil from escaping.
  • Chekhov's Gun: The stone statue displayed outside the Hua Mansion. It turns out to contain a Booby Trap that launches a rain of knives through its chest when someone twists its arm, which comes in handy in the final battle against the Bloody Devil.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Hei-mo in the final battle against the Bloody Devil. When Hei-mo’s tonfa is outmatched by the Bloody Devil’s immense strength, to the point of the weapon starting to bend, Hei-mo instead whips out a concealed short sword and slices Bloody Devil through his jugular. But somehow Bloody Devil is powerful enough to survive that…
  • Cool Old Guy: The senior martial arts experts and leaders, such as Old Hedgehog and Madam Fa, who kicks plenty of ass and take down several enemies until they reach the Bloody Devil. Hei-mo’s teacher also counts, arriving in the climax to help his student against the Bloody Devil.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: The Bloody Devil against nearly everyone.
  • The Dreaded: The Bloody Devil, whose true name is a forbidden word among martial arts practitioners.
  • Elite Mook: The Bloody Devil have his own legion of disciples, which are clad in leopard furs and uses glaives in battle. They are more competent than the common redshirts until they get pummeled by Old Hedgehog or Madam Fa.
  • Evil Eyebrows: The Bloody Devil have these, which is at least a few meters long.
  • Flashback Cut: Golden Whip Man Ying-tai and Swift Sword Hei-mo both have brief flashback sequences as their Establishing Character Moment, depicting the two men to be elite martial artists and expert killers capable of taking down small armies (around 10 for each men) by themselves.
  • Gory Discretion Shot: Used in one of Golden Whip’s flashback scenes, where after killing a dozen mooks, he embeds a mook’s sword into a tree and force one of the last mook’s throat into its blade. The audience didn’t see the results, just a Reaction Shot of the last surviving mook who then turns and run away from the scene.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: The Bloody Devil does this to Madam Fa in the finale by throwing his flagpole through her back, its tip coming out through her midsection as she rushed to the mortally-wounded Old Hedgehog, allowing both of them to end up Together in Death.
  • Improbable Weapon User: In the finale, the Bloody Devil carves a bloody swathe of destruction using a flag-pole with a pointed tip as his weapon.
  • In a Single Bound: Most of the characters can cover long distances and scale massive heights just by jumping, but most notably the Bloody Devil.
  • Long-Haired Pretty Boy: David Chiang’s character, Hei-mo the Swift Sword, who somehow makes having Barbarian Longhair look dorky.
  • Mutual Kill: In the big final battle, Old Hedgehog and Chief Jau Loong impales each other at the same time.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The Big Bad of this movie is called the "Bloody Devil".
  • Rasputinian Death: The Bloody Devil, finally, finally, finally dies after being slashed through his neck, impaled by twenty knives shot from a booby-trapped statue, having his innards crushed, before having Hei-mo stabbing his sword through the top of his skull. Note that the final blow still isn’t enough to completely kill him – Hei-mo had to jump on the Bloody Devil, stomp on his opponent’s shoulders, and forcefully shove the entire sword all the way down, penetrating the Bloody Devil’s brain, throat, lungs and innards before he finally succumbs.
  • Red Baron: Most of the characters counts, including Swift Sword Hei-mo, Golden Whip, Man Ying-tai, and Bloody Devil.
  • Redshirt Army: The martial arts practitioners who gets in the way of the Bloody Devil in the climax, who wears red Martial Arts Headband and white uniforms who inevitably gets splattered with their blood when Bloody Devil carves a swathe of destruction through their ranks.
  • Weapon Specialization: Given this genre of movies, sure enough most of the name character have their own unique weapons for the audience to identify them with.
    • Epic Flail: The Golden Whip, Man Ying-tai’s preferred weapon, which true to his name, he can use to deliver a good thrashing on enemies.
    • Lawman Baton: Hei-mo’s preferred weapon is a long, heavy tonfa which can break bones and shatter skulls.
    • Staff of Authority: Madam Fa uses a dragon-headed silver scepter which she uses as a fighting staff, to great effect when it comes to bashing enemies. But against the Bloody Devil, on the other hand
  • White Shirt of Death: Golden Whip Man Ying-tai is the only major character who wears an all-white uniform, including his headband. He ends up being the first named character to be killed by Bloody Devil.
  • Wire Fu
  • The Worf Effect: Bloody Devil firmly establishes himself as a genuine threat when he brutally kills Golden Whip by crushing his innards with his bare hands.


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