A group of monks travel through the Vietnamese countryside when they find they would prefer to rest and eat something to get their strength back, but this is such a remote area it's difficult to see whereabouts they could. That is until they happen across Linh the goatherd (Pham Anh Koa) who cheerily points them in the right direction, the Duong Son Quan tavern which should cater to their needs, though he is quick to point out the establishment is more used to catering for other, more carnal needs as well. Undeterred, the monks arrive at the tavern and are greeted by waitress Dao Thi (Ngoc Quyen) who is surprised to see them, and introduces them to her boss, Khieu Thi (Thanh Hang), whereupon they settle down for meal as the amused waitresses fuss over them...
But what if these supposed holy men were not monks at all, but actually corrupt officials and their willing representatives who are set on executing the waitresses/prostitutes for their subversive activities? What do you know, that's precisely how this plays out, but the authorities had reckoned without the ladies' incredible martial arts skills, including their aptitude with swordplay which gets them out of hot water and leaves them with a bunch of dead bodies to dispose of. But what's this? Someone left behind? Sure enough, in that coffin the "monks" were transporting is not only a wealth of riches, but a live woman, Linh Lan (Vietnamese model Tang Thanh Ha), who had been captured and was being kidnapped.
She immediately fires off an array of insults her new captors laugh off as they explain in not so many words that they have saved her, and so begins a line of toppling dominos in a storyline fashion as Lan is trained by Khieu and her assistants in the ways of hanging around on wires and slow motion blade wielding, as was the case in many an East Asian martial arts effort. In this case, it was one of the biggest homegrown hits Vietnam had ever seen, a mixture of feminine pulchritude and stylised action that appealed greatly to the local audience, though whether it translated to other countries quite as well was a moot point. In spite of the tragedy that builds throughout the narrative, there was something very chocolate box glossy about director Nguyen Quang Dung's methods.
In practice, this had everything enhanced by our old friend computer graphics, including a curious liking for showing his actresses playing a form of volleyball which involves kicking the (pink) ball over the net, or occasionally heading it - no hands allowed, which was all very well but noticeably less impressive when you were painfully aware there was no way these ladies were making those shots and the ball had been added in post-production. Not quite Shaolin Soccer, but kind of silly nonetheless. Much of the time was spent with Lan proving herself worthy of joining the assassins, starting with some advanced house cleaning techniques just to allude to one stereotypical gender role, but progressing to more of their favourite sporting pasttime and eventually mastery of the sword. She wants revenge on Quan Du (Thia-Hoa Le), a warlord who has done her wrong after wiping out her family, but there's a twist as she actually has a hidden agenda that feeds into the would-be tearjerking denouement. Although it was lighter than air, The Lady Assassin had a certain charm.
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