The Guillotines
Andrew Lau
The story: The Guillotines are a secret assassination team first assembled by Qing-dynasty emperor Yongzheng. Their weapon of choice is a flying guillotine capable of decapitating its victim. Led by Leng (Ethan Juan), they chase after the messianic rebel leader Wolf (Huang Xiaoming).

How many ways can Taiwanese actor Ethan Juan cry? He is bawling his eyes out in what is meant to be an emotional scene but all I can think is: Was that how he cried in the gangster drama Monga (2010) as well?
Then, as if to demonstrate his versatility, he gets to work his tear ducts in another emo scene soon after. Except that this time, he is more restrained. Or maybe because there is a ballad playing and the whole thing feels like an overwrought music video. This is what goes through one’s mind when one is not invested in the fates of the characters unfolding on the screen.
A key plot strand here is whether the Guillotines will survive as a group. After all, they are seen as a dirty little secret and with firearms coming into the picture under Yongzheng’s son Qianlong, the emperor no longer has a need for them.
But given that the members of the team are barely differentiated from one another, it is hard to care. The most fleshed-out are Leng and lone female member, Musen (Li Yuchun).
Leng and Haidu (Shawn Yue) had played alongside Qianlong as kids but led different lives when they grew up. Increasingly, Leng finds his loyalties torn between his allegiance to the king and his ties to his team. Eventually, tears will flow.
The arc for Musen is potentially interesting as she, captured by Wolf, begins to see things from a different perspective.
Too bad she is played by the blah Li, who keeps getting cast in films because of her popularity as a singer in China.
For a while, Chinese actor Huang intrigues as the beatific rebel leader with flowy locks. In the end, he turns out, confusingly, to be a soft- hearted messianic figure who has an oddly intense relationship with Leng.
And for a 3-D movie about a killer weapon, the visuals were disappointing. The sequences detailing the workings of it and some close-up shots were too obviously computer-generated.
This is not a movie to lose your head over.
(ST)