The World still needs the Wu Assassin. With these words the first season of Wu Assassins ended… Now, after 2 years we are still talking about one of the few martial art series out there, why? Because Wu Assassins will be soon a movie!
Once upon a time…
For those who did not watch TV series or simple do not remember the story, Wu Assassins talks about Kai Jin, a Chinese-Indonesian chef in San Francisco, that discover to be the last of the “Wu Assassins”, a group of legendary assassins destined to protect the Earth, killing the “Wu Warlords”. The latter are possessed by one of the five Chinese elements, giving them supernatural powers concerning: fire, wood, earth, water and metal. At the same time the Wu Assassin will be gifted with increased physical strength and agility, withstanding the attacks of the Wu Warlords, with the ability to hide his identity, appearing another person.
Introducing the Assassins
Reading the plot, one could have the impression of a supernatural action TV series, and basically it is, but there is a problem… The cast is full of martial artists! And this fact could not be hided, because the talent and the performance of the actors is not really common, I am talking of the best movie martial artists of the moment:
- Starting from the protagonist, Iko Uwais in the role of the last “Wu Assassin”. The Indonesian star is the most influent and important martial artist that promote silat around the world. Better known for his firsts unbelievable movies Merantau and The Raid, Iko Uwais is really the star of the moment in the martial art movie panorama.
- Byron Mann, in the series as Uncle Six, leader of the Triad in San Francisco and father of the protagonist Kai Jin. Byron Mann is an Hong Kong-American actor who participated in many action movies, showing his wushu skills since 1994 in Street Fighter as Ryu.
- Lewis Tan, a young British martial artist of stuntman descent, in Wu Assassins he is Kai’s best friend Lu Xin Lee. This promising actor will be in the upcoming Mortal Kombat movie!
- Li Jun Li, playing also a very good friend of Kai in the series, Jenny Wah. The Chinese actress is graduated dancer, demonstrating MMA skills.
- Juju Chan, in the role of Zan, uncle Six’s right hand woman. Juju Chan is one of the youngest promising in the martial art movie panorama. Already seen in the movie Jiu Jitsu and Crounching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny, her climb towards success started in 2011 with the movie The Young Boxe. I am sure that I will write more about her in the near future.
- Katheryn Winnick as CG, an undercover inspector of the San Francisco Police Department. The beautiful Canadian actress is a Taekwondo master that demonstrate a particularly predisposition for the action scenes, absolutely enjoyable in Wu Assassins.
- Mark Dacascos in the role of an unnamed monk, whose face become the incognito identity of Kai. The participation of such an high martial artist as Dacascos is the icing on the cake of the show.
The Story is not over
Wu Assassins despite an amazing cast and plot, does not shines as it deserves. In fact, the most fascinating parts of the series are not the supernatural fights between Wu Assassin and the Wu Warlords, but the action scenes that involve the Triads and Kai’s friends. The most enjoyable martial art moment are effectively between human beings, all the mystic part instead, even if original and elaborated, gives a B-movie feeling, the poor special effects and unnecessary time travels are the sadly confirmation. Removing the supernatural part of Wu Assassins, would be remain a tough crime series, in which all the cast could express their talent even more, but the World still needs the Wu Assassin…
The World still needs the Wu Assassin, let’s wait then the release of the movie Wu Assassins: Fistful of Vengance, right now in development.
What is your favorite character of Wu Assassin? Did you recognize Mark Dacascos in the series?