When it came time to watch something Ms. Spenser could ignore, I just searched JustWatch for Michelle Yeoh movies and found Reign of Assassins (2010). Good choice.
After a little exposition about a magic McGuffin (mummified body of ancient Buddhist monk - ugh), and a secret league of assassins, we find a woman assassin entering a village and killing everyone there, starting with a little kid. Pretty brutal.
She has a mentor who is about to become a monk, and he is worried about her form. It looks unbeatable, but he says there are four weaknesses, and he's afraid she will be killed if she meets a master. He trains her to overcome them, so well that she kills him in training. His last words to her are, that if this convinces her to give up killing, he would be honored to be the last one she kills.
Wracked by guilt, she tries to reform. She gets cosmetic surgery (performed by under-the-skin parasites - ugh), and now she is Michelle Yeoh. She moves to a village, meets a nice guy and marries him. But the assassins are still looking for the McGuffin, and her old enemies are still looking for her.
This movie is a nice mix of old school and a more modern style. For one thing, it's more intense, violent and gory. For another, the fight scenes are very stylish and accomplished. But it still has the good old scheming eunuchs, mysterious assassins, and old feuds. It also has a touch of Buddhism underneath that makes all the violence go down a little smoother.
I don't think this broke new ground, but was a nice updating of the old. It was directed by Su Chiao-pin, with help from John Woo. The cast came from all over the Asian sphere, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, and Korea. I hope they all go on to make more movies like this.
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