Bodyguards and Assassins

i must confess, i've been nurturing a chinese loving side of my character ever since going to Australia...so i began watching cantonese drama serials and chinese movies while in Australia and have enjoyed hanging out at Lunar back home in Singapore with Kian and Richard..eh, Kian..when's the next time we go ah??

last night we went to catch Bodyguards and Assassins, the new movie out in cinemas in Singapore and Malaysia which was nearly 10 years in the making because the director couldn't make up his mind about who to cast and what angle to go for regarding the storyline..it was indeed a bit top heavy with too many famous Hong Kong actors and actresses..the plot transitioned a bit too abruptly as well since the script was probably redone once every 6 months for 10 years..and there were too many holes in the filming..such as when Donnie Yen of Ip Man fame, acting as a bodyguard, charged headlong into an assassin's galloping horse and was flung off to the side dead. Well, the horse disappeared from the film scene at that point and the assassin was shown standing dirty and forlorn and looking like his mount had been plucked from under him by magic..he had this vacant what-the-hell-just-happened-look which summed up the audience' thought train at that moment. Or when a female bodyguard held shut the door to the assassins' hideout so none could escape as explosives went off and blew the place to bits. In the aftermath, we see the hideout destroyed but the actress' body lying in the rubble intact. As a former combat engineer, this stuff jumps out at me as being ridiculously amusing.

But i credit the overall storyline as being good. After all its based on the real story of Dr Sun Yat Sen visiting Hong Kong in 1906 to coordinate the resistance to the corrupt Chinese Qing Dynasty and having Qing assassins sent to kill him. He was protected by a group of bodyguards and a body double, many of whom didn't even know who it was they were protecting. The story moves through the few days before Sun arrives and the assassination attempt on the day itself. The angle taken of men giving their lives in exchange for someone they don't know to ensure the success of the Chinese Revolution is something which works with movie goers.

My favorite part of the film was when one of the bodyguards said that the revolution was so important that he couldn't stay home while events played out and that in times like those, nobody could claim they were just innocent civilians or disinterested business folk..life as normal was foolish when great events were unfolding..

reminds me of what the bible says, as in the days of Noah before the flood, so it will be at the end of the age, when the people of this world will be buying and selling, giving and being given in marriage, until the floods came..the King has come,died and risen, and the world now lives in a very small window of opportunity for repentance before the King returns and judges this world..those who have been forgiven by Christ and are part of His family must not think that life can carry on as normal without regard for the urgency of the gospel and the repentance of sins. Some things are not that important in light of historical events, events such as the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and His coming return.