Wu Assassins - General Discussion

[BetterButter]

[jhlipton]

Watched all the way to the conclusion.

One extremely sour note: If they had a Black woman on the show, why was she on for less than 5 minutes.  It looked like a gratuitous nod to "inclusion".

Overall, pretty good.  Good cast and a nice story-line.  I wanted Xan to die even before she killed Uncle Daddy Six (sorry, wrong show), but I guess I have to wait.  Speaking of Uncle Six, I thought he was played with a nice amount of subtlety, as a man who would do good if not for his environment and upbringing.

[UnknownK]

For a Kung-Fu type show I expect to see wall to wall Asians.

I found the Uncle Six character to be the cold blooded killer you expect to run an Asian mob who just happens to like a few close people (out of the many who live in China Town). He was not especially kind to his driver and kind of put her down when she said she wanted to take over if he quit, and ended up dead for it. 

[jhlipton]

6 hours ago, UnknownK said:

For a Kung-Fu type show I expect to see wall to wall Asians.

I would too.  But that wasn't how it was cast, from major roles like CG and Alistair to the police chief and his lead detective.  That's why Black female Metal Wu stood out, and why I was upset that she (like most Black women on SF and fantasy shows) got such a small part.

[twoods]

Eight episodes in and it’s pretty entertaining. Some parts do drag so I FF them, but I like most of the characters except for Zan. I want Jenny to kill that bitch.

[UnknownK]

Well it was entertaining enough to get a second season.

[Quark]

I thought this was great. The fight choreography was absolutely superb.

Looking forward to the next season.

[TrininisaScorp]

Yoooo.   The 90s action comedy Sat afternoon kung fu vibes got me.  My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  A bit more women of color would be nice, but it is a single sour note in an otherwise strong representation case. 

I could watch some of those fight scenes over and over again.  

The acting was so so with some folks being stronger than others.  

Always nice to see Tommy Flanagan (I screamed CHIBS that first time he appeared).

I hope these guys get a 2nd season.  I've told tons of my friends to do my part via word of mouth. 

(shallow note) Lewis Tan is a GD snack.  It was clear the costume ppl appreciated his form and dressed him in gorgeous designer duds.  I also appreciate his form. (/shallow note)

[twoods]

Yep, I couldn’t stop staring at Lewis Tan and so glad that he didn’t get killed off. Also, he had great chemistry with the cop so I’m glad that wasn’t ignored. 

[Tyro49]

Just finished episode 5 - we seem to be going off in an entirely different direction now; interesting. I wasn't sure if we were going to run into Jamie MacCrimmon or Jamie Frazer along the way!

[Rambler]

I was finally able to finish this one off while most of the network shows are on holiday reruns. This was an OK show, but hardly riveting must see TV. They had the makings of a decent story with the group of friends caught in the middle of a gang war, so I wish they had left the fantasy elements out as they just seemed silly and not well thought out.

For me, the biggest problem was they never clearly explained how the Wu powers worked at all. Can you sneak up behind one and shoot him in the back of the head? Blow them up? I guess you can poison them because Kai tried that, but Six was on to him. If you could kill them by conventional means, it doesn't seem like it would be so hard to kill one, just come equipped with a high powered rifle and sniper scope.

The woman who trained Kai was useless. "Here break these rocks and you will receive your Wu powers. You did it! Congrats now you know everything you need to be a Wu Assassin. Good luck! Bye!" You would think with all these former Wu assassins hanging around in the afterlife they could go over strategies of what they did that worked and what didn't, otherwise what is the point of sticking around there?

So Kai has humongous fight with the Fire Wu and loses because he is unprepared. At least he is able to talk Six into giving up the Fire Wu. He then goes to face the Earth Wu. Except this time, he knows what the Earth Wu can do. How does he know? I dunno, it is never explained, but he is prepared this time and kills the Earth Wu in another good fight.

OK great, now time to face the Metal Wu and Water Wu who are a couple, and the ultimate baddie the Wood Wu. On the other side we have the Wu Assassin teamed up with Jenny who has become the Fire Wu and Tommy who Kai just turned into the Earth Wu for the ultimate 3 on 3 Wu fight for the ages.

On your mark, get set and… wait a second. Everyone is suddenly transported to Monk World and they all lose their Wu powers. WTF is up with that? Here I was expecting a CGI extravaganza for the climax of the entire series, and it just turned a regular brawl. I mean the red shirt henchmen put up a better fight than the Metal Wu, who just sort of flopped around. And then the demise of McCullough just seemed so easy and anticlimactic. I was wondering how they were going to kill someone who was immortal, but then it never happened in a way that was satisfying, so the entire ending was a letdown.

 

Other observations:

The fight scenes were amazing. Personally I prefer the fight scenes with swords and other such weapons as they seem more elegant to me. These were mostly the brutal face smashing hand to hand style, but still they were probably the best choreographed fight scenes I have seen on a television series.

Iko Uwais wasn't very good acting wise as Kai. He just seemed so remote and monotone, and he mumbled his lines so that I had to have the closed captioning on to understand a word he was saying. I get that he doesn't speak English and he is probably much better acting in his native tongue, but it didn't make it any less painful to sit through. On the other hand, he is so good in his fight scenes that I can live with the bad acting.

If there is a second season, I hope they don't bring Zan back as the big baddie. She was bland and just didn't seem to have the brain power to be a super villain.

Katheryn Winnick played an ass kicking undercover cop. Her character kinda seemed to be thrown in to bring in the non-Asian demographic, but I am OK with that. Ever since I saw her in Vikings, I would probably watch a show with her knitting a sweater. I pray to the TV Gods to someday give us an action show starring Katheryn Winnick and Emily Beecham from Into the Badlands kicking ass and taking names. Or maybe even knitting sweaters. I'd still watch the shit out of that show.

They advertised Summer Glau and she was mostly wasted here. She only appeared in a few scenes and didn't really do much. I was hoping they would give her a kick-ass fight scene like she had in Serenity, but it was not meant to be. I guess maybe she isn't as flexible as she used to be. Heh. The brief make out scene with Katheryn Winnick was a nice bonus however.

[AnimeMania]

The continuation of this TV Series is in the form of a movie called Wu Assassins: Fistful Of Vengeance that is being released on February 17 on Netflix.

Iko Uwais as Kai Jin

Lewis Tan as Lu Xin Lee

Lawrence Kao as Tommy Wah

JuJu Chan as Zan Hui

 

A revenge mission becomes a fight to save the world from an ancient threat when superpowered assassin Kai tracks a killer to Bangkok.

Super-powered assassin Kai and friends Lu Xin and Tommy track a killer from San Francisco's Chinatown to Thailand to avenge the death of a loved one. But their hunt soon entangles them with old enemies, a mysterious billionaire and an ancient mystical force bent on taking over the world. Iko Uwais (The Raid) stars with Lewis Tan (Mortal Kombat), Lawrence Kao (Max Steel) and Pearl Thusi (Queen Sono) in this fast-and-furious martial arts action film.