Judgement of an Assassin (1977) poster
1977 · wuxia · shaw-brothers · swordplay

Judgement of an Assassin

Directed by Sun Chung1h 34m1977
ElsewhereIMDb6.5123TMDB6.88
  • sombre
  • brisk
  • intense
Movie DNA

Sombre, breathless, measured wuxia / shaw-brothers, inventive in texture. Ambivalent, mid-stakes, measured, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

Sun Chung was already a valued comedy, romance, and modern crime filmmaker, when, through this tale of the 100 Poison Clique's obsessive ambition to destroy all rivals, he started bringing morality and motivation to martial arts movies like never before. Kung-fu superstar David Chiang and prominent choreographer Tang Chia lead the cast in a bloody clan clash centered on the trial of an admitted mass murderer and serial rapist. It was just the beginning of Sun Chung's exploration in emotion.

Our read · Judgement of an Assassin (1977) reads as a sombre, breathless, inventive wuxia · shaw-brothers · swordplay entry — measured in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, measured in temperature, ambivalent in outlook. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

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The shape of Judgement of an Assassin

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want Shaw Brothers wuxia with clan politics and moral trial of an assassin.

ends bittersweetyou’ll be fine aftera rollercoastergrips by minute 5attention 3/5breezes bysubtitles: full
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upgraphic violencesexual violence

Skip it tonightYou dislike convoluted plots or intense martial arts violence.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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