THE GUILLOTINES takes place during the Qing Dynasty where the Chinese Emperor uses mysterious assassins known as Guillotines to get rid of political rivals and squash rebellion.  Now the same assassins are too known as a force of oppression and plans are set in place to get rid of what is known as a stain on the Empire and bring along the golden Age where the new weapon are firearms and cannons.  The Guillotines are sent out on a mission to take out the rebel leader known as the Wolf and bring back the body of one of their own (who has been taken prisoner when Wolf escaped his own execution).   The assassins are orphans who are taught to kill, but they aren’t allowed to read and write.  This mission will be full of betrayal as an old friend (of one of the assassins) is ordered to carry out the orders of the new regime to bring about the new order of things at any cost.   The Same assassin’s world is turned upside down as he must decide where he must stand in this rebellion.

THE GUILLOTINES has lots of well stage action and a good story that does falter a bit in the last twenty minutes.  Andrew Lau has put together a well directed film with lots of attention to detail.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Interviews with director Andrew Lau, the costume designer Dora Ng, and four of the actors: Ethan Juan (Leng), Shawn Yue (Haido), Boran Jing (Shisan), and Li Yochun (Mussen).  The actors talk about the demands the roles had on them and how Andrew Lau was a great director while Lau comments on why the film had to be converted to 3D (I saw it on DVD in 2D).  The costume designed tells us how modern day special forces uniforms and haircuts helped inspire the looks for the Guillotines.

The making-of featurette is more of a promotional piece that has interviews with cast and the director as it shows footage from the movie and some behind-the-scenes footage which only scratches the surface of how the movie was made.

Theatrical trailer and previews for other releases from Well Go USA

FINAL ANALYSIS:  THE GUILLOTINES is an enjoyable Asian martial arts film except for falling apart in the last 20 minutes.

This DVD review is (c)8-23-2013 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

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