Here is the first poster for the The Guillotines martial arts movie directed by Andrew Lau with Peter Chan in charge as the producer. This is a remake of sorts of the classic Shaw Brothers movie The Flying Guiilotine of 1976. Original was directed by Teddy Chan, who known by his latest movie Bodyguard and Assassins with Donnie Yen and Cung Le. Andrew Lau is known by crime drama Infernal Affairs and producer Peter Chan for Wu Xia movie with Donnie Yen and Takeshi Kaneshiro. I wonder why Donnie is not in The Guillotines.
The film will star Huang Xiaoming, Ethan Juan, Shawn Yue, Li Yuchun and Boran Jing.
Synopsis: During the Manchurian-ruled Qing Dynasty, Emperor Yong Zheng established a secret assassination squad known as the Guillotines to eliminate all who opposed him. Once heavily favored by the Emperor, the Guillotines are deemed expendable once Emperor Qian Long ascends to the throne and adopts Western ideas and technology. To consolidate his power under a new regime, the Emperor continues to use the Guillotines to persecute the conquered Han Chinese in a reign of terror and oppression.
Led by master fighter Leng, the top ranked guillotine squad consists of five young warriors: Mu, San, Tai, Hutu and Buka. Serving the Qing Court unquestioningly, they have never failed in 348 missions to eliminate their targets. But their success has made them arrogant and complacent.
Their next mission is to eliminate Wolf and his Shepherd gang. During the operation, the squad manages to trap Wolf. Just as they are about to execute him, the squad commander orders that he be captured alive. He secretly plans to use Wolf as a pawn in his bid for power. Wolf’s gang of rebels ambushes the Guillotines in their moment of hesitation. Wolf escapes, taking Mu hostage.
With reports that Wolf has fled to the outer frontiers, the squad tracks him to a remote village outpost. On the other hand, the Emperor has sent his most trusted agent Du for the same mission and most importantly, to end the era of the Guillotines by replacing cold weapons with firearms. If only they make one false move, they will become the hunted. Facing annihilation, Leng and his Guillotines must outfight and outwit enemies from both sides.
