Surprisingly incoherent and boring

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

"The Guillotines" is a wu xia movie with a lot of ups and downs. It's certainly interesting for genre fans and better than its reputation but far from being a highlight of the martial arts genre. The movie shows the story of an obsolete secret assassination squad on a dangerous mission whose members face elimination due to the emperor's will to radically revolutionize his empire.On the negative side, this movie is clearly too long. Especially the first part of the movie where the assassination squad is discovering a remote village outpost has noticeable lengths. Another issue is that many of the characters in this squad lack depth or are represented in a childish way which makes it hard for the viewer to identify with them. Despite being a wu xia movie, the fighting scenes are mostly unspectacular and the special weapon of the assassination squad is clearly underused. A debatable issue is the ending of the movie which surprised me in a negative way. Instead of offering a final battle, the movie suddenly tries to offer a philosophical twist which doesn't fit with the rest of the movie.On the positive side, the costumes, settings and soundtrack are what you expect of a solid wu xia production. The opening scene is already visually stunning and includes a few nice special effects that aren't overused throughout the movie. Some characters like the Guillotines members Leng and Musen, rebel leader Wolf, agent Haidu and the Qianlong Emperor have some depth and become more and more authentic and interesting as the movie progresses. Instead of focusing on predictable martial arts fights, this movie tries to innovate things by showing us the downsides of modern Western technology. While the ending of the movie feels somewhat disappointing and out of place, one can't deny that it comes as a surprise and is rather original from an objective point of view.In the end, fans of Chinese action films, period movies and a modern type of wu xia cinema might want to watch this movie once. Those who are expecting a more traditional martial arts film might be disappointed since the movie focuses on fights with cannons, guns and fictional weapons instead of classic daggers or swords. After all, "The Guillotines" is a slightly above average genre flick but nothing more.

I concur with many of the earlier reviews, that the initial fighting sequences were well done and the "new and improved" guillotine is very cool. Sadly, the only clear message in this mixed allegiance, personal honor vs. societal duty, convoluted drama, was anti-gun control. Guns beat knives, even fancy, quasi-mystical, super swords and when armed soldiers attack unarmed citizens it's a slaughter- doesn't much matter the morality or rationale. The film tries to find hope, scrolling on the ending screen, that eventually the emperor had a change of heart. I wonder how much solace that provides the faceless thousands massacred, while the emperor contemplated? Perhaps, someone could have explained to the messiah revolutionary, it is not the giving of your life for what you believe that fortifies true change, it is ensuring your opponent gives their life for what they believe.

Lousy script, bad acting, senseless violence and a "been there done that" storyline, make this a really forgettable movie. Actually the 1 out of 10 vote given, is for the first 10 minutes of the movie. Good sequence and showed promise of a great WuXia movie. The appearance of The guillotines were very impressive. Scary actually. A great update on the guillotine of old. Then it all went down hill from there. The title of the movie should be changed too. The movie is not about these legendary weapons at all. Having a messiah like protagonist doesn't help either. Feels like I'm watching a communist propaganda movie. I want my time back.

Sure, we'd need an upgrade or two. After all, this is the age of digital effects, so the guillotine weapon is now completely CGed with a bit too much information, showing the implausible tech wizardry that goes on inside the weapon, now resembling a sickle-sword in two parts, one that contains the revolving, spinning wheel that hooks onto one's neck, extends a couple more mean looking blades, before a yank of a chain decapitates one's head. Do we get to see the full works? Yes, despite some censored bits, but considered that the best demonstration of the weapon comes in the first ten minutes, that's all about what you can see of a film whose title is the weapon. Bummer.With no less than having six writers involved, you'd think at least one of them had the sense to make the utilization of the weapon a more frequent point in the film, especially when we have seven characters in a team, all of whom take up fanciful titles like a basketball team, operating like a dedicated SWAT platoon, headed by Leng (Ethan Juan). The story turned out to be convoluted, a classic case of having too many cooks involved in the brewing of the broth, and with desire to help director Andrew Lau concoct an Infernal Affairs equivalent of a martial arts story complete with twists and turns hinged on loyalty, brotherhood, and a whole lot of hidden agendas.Emperor Yongzheng has the crack Guillotines team set up as a secret underground army of his to wipe dissent amongst the populace, and this continues during the reign of his son Qianlong, who is adamant in embracing modern technology and weaponry, and also to wipe this dark episode of a blot on his dynasty's rule. To do so, he has a sworn group of those whose astrological star signs are aligned to his, whom his father had dispersed through various arms in the government, such as Du (Shawn Yue), an Imperial agent, and even Leng himself. The main antagonist to his dynasty is Wolf (Huang Xiaoming), the head of the rebel Herders gang, who is Han and going around rousing support from the oppressed and disgruntled, and soon enough we have Leng and his Guillotines open the film with a big action sequence that may just be the final entertaining fight you'd see in the movie.That's because with the embrace of guns and cannons, which boasts a far greater reach that the Guillotines infamous ability to kill within 10 steps (only), Qianlong is also keen to have new toys, and to do so, schemes to justify them while at the same time rid his rule of those who had served him, and his father, well. Opportunity comes when Leng's teammate Musen (Li Yuchun), who is also daughter of the Guillotines chief (played by the legend Jimmy Wang Yu in a non combat role, unlike in Wu Xia) gets kidnapped by Wolf, and during their rescue mission, has Du unceremoniously tagged along their quest. Fine so far? Great, because everything else that came after is more talk than action. Soon we'd see Leng being more of a brooder than a man of decisive action, as each of the major characters begin to reveal true intentions, centered around what it means to be sworn to loyalty and brotherhood, yet being in a fix when required to perform execute someone else's dirty intent. There's opportunity for gratuitous massacre on screen just to up the body count, as the Guillotines crack team become more caricatures as the narrative moved along, rather than the feared team that operated in the shadows.There's also a lot of The Last Samurai in this, given the very obvious guns and cannons versus sword fights and primitive weapons employed by the masses, in what would be an emperor's degree to wipe his enemies, that by the time this rolled out you'd know how everything would end, since Qianlong is after all very much one of the longest reigning monarchs in Chinese history, and all fantasy of rebels rewriting that, is zilch. The entire second half of the narrative also had Leng rescued by the enemy Wolf, and brought to see the light on what is the true meaning of peace and harmony, when living amongst those whom he had once sought to silence with his deadly spinning wheel at the drop of the hat through a decree by the courts.Ethan Juan probably had it in his contract to shed a lot of tears and bawl like a crybaby in this one, while Shawn Yue, with Infernal Affairs tucked under his belt, performs in a similar capacity, albeit this time in a medieval get up. Huang Xiaoming's role was the most curious in the film, being almost messiah like, the chosen one seeking a way to lead his people out of misery, preaching his brand of politics and revolt through the many pockets of Han community still scattered around, and predicting his own untimely demise in what would be a necessary sacrifice he had foretold to bring about reconciliation. Even his make up and costuming looks traditionally messiah-like, although he held his own when non-violence doesn't seem to sway ideals.It's probably about time that martial arts films inspired by those of old, stick to what made them genre in the first place. Nobody's quibbling if there's a solid story, but in trying to be intellectual and artificially raising philosophical examination, The Guillotines becomes a tired exercise attempting too hard to achieve something more cerebral, forgetting its entertainment aspect, and what had made its namesake famous in the first place, akin to the movie's Qianlong in attempting to wipe out what is remarkably cheesy in its mythos after having to ride on the goodwill of the franchise's coattails to have this made.