The Guillotines is a kung fu film released in 2012, loosely based on
Flying Guillotine. This time there's a whole squad of flying guillotine masters, secretly working for the Qing Empire by killing off dissidents the best way they can. When Tian Lang, The Messiah of La Résistance flees their custody while capturing one of their own, it's up to the Guillotines Squad, led by Nala Leng and followed by Obstructive Bureaucrat Haidu, to track him down to a dirty little village in the barren wasteland, where the truth is waiting for them.
This film provides examples of:
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: The Guillotines can cut down trees when flung.
- Adaptational Badass: The titular weapon is far deadlier than the original Shaw Brothers incarnation. The original guillotine can sever heads from a distance, like the name implies, but is otherwise just a mundane Blade on a Rope and can only target one victim maximum each throw; in the remake the guillotines can be controlled mid-flight, Precision-Guided Boomerang-style, decapitates more than one unfortunate victim with a single throw in the opening massacre, bisects a guy by the waist and even cuts down a tree!
- An Arm and a Leg: One of the Guillotines is sentenced to be ripped apart by five cows. Not whipped or anything, they have to be pulled in the proper direction by farmers.
- …And That Little Girl Was Me:
Tian Lang: For selling that book, the father was sentenced to
Death by a Thousand Cuts, and his four sons were to be beheaded. Except for the youngest, who was just turned 16, and spared the blade... but how could the boy live on, when all his family was gone?
And yet, I did.
- Chekhov's Gun: The papercuts decorating the village turn out to be a cipher — covering the coded letters with them reveals the hidden message.
- Darker and Edgier: Compared to the original Flying Guillotine. Where the Manchurian Emperor's tyranny and suffering of civilians are shown in full (only hinted in the original, even then not by much), an even more violent opening where the Guillotines slaughtered dozens of people onscreen, captives sentenced to public executions, and more emotional moments between the named characters. The movie's also Bloodier and Gorier for good measure.
- Devil in Plain Sight: Leng's childhood friend Haidu, now a regular Imperial officer, assigned to observe the Guillotines on their sortie. They don't trust him for a moment. And they were right.
- The Dung Ages: The little village, filled with nothing but Han Chinese refugees forced out of their lands by the Manchurian Empire, is particularly dingy.
- Evil Former Friend: Subverted by Haidu, who used to be Leng's sworn brother before he turncoats to lead the Emperor's riflemen legion. Despite betraying the Guillotines and leading the rifle troops in attacking the village, when Haidu arrests Leng he still somewhat considers Leng as a friend, even stopping Leng from choosing to be executed at the end. He's visibly disturbed when his friend, Leng, prefers to die anyways.
- Heel–Face Turn: The surviving Guillotines.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Tian Lang believes the Qing army's massacre of refugees can only be appeased with his death.
- Mundane Utility: One of the Guillotines kills time by throwing rocks across water, which skip about twenty times.
- Never Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight: Musen charges at the Imperial riflemen squadron holding only her sword. She gets a Multiple Gunshot Death for her troubles.
- Orphanage of Fear: The Guillotines Squad is chosen from orphans and trained to kill all their lives. In a huge subversion, the Guillotines squad turns out to be anything but apathetic in private (they're still killing machines mind you).
- Remake Cameo: More of a Remake Supporting Role for Wang Yu, the chief of the Guillotines squad.
- Show Within a Show: The shadow puppet shows about Tian Lang.
- The Smurfette Principle: The Guillotine squad's token Dark Action Girl Musen.
- So Last Season: Invoked as a plot point. The Qing Empire has been planning to phase out the Guillotines and introduce firearms.
- Technology Porn: How the flying guillotines work.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: One of the Guillotines gets pickpocketed, and responds violently - until he realizes the bugger has several children to feed, and takes back just his ID, leaving them the money.
- Unwilling Suspension: A captured Musen is subjected to some harsh interrogation, including being hung from her wrists while being beaten.
