All That Splendour... Review on House of Flying Daggers Movie

I love wuxia films. For those who have not read my revu on “Hero”, hop on over to https://mouthshut.com/review/Hero-45552-1.html for a quick recap.

“House Of Flying Daggers” ended its run in Malaysian cinemas last year August. I caught it twice on the big screen and have just recently purchased the VCD to add to my collection of Chinese kung fu and wuxia epic.

Yes, I think a lot of people are going, what the heck is wuxia??? For the unenlightened, wuxia is a genre of film originating from the China/Hong Kong film market that showcases the aspect of Chinese martial arts practitioner, their chivalry and wuxia films come with strong doses of cultural and historical context.

It was “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” that brought the whole wuxia genre into the international film market and of since, people have been clamouring to find classic movies of old. But enough of my lecturing and on with the review.

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Starring Asian darling, Zhang Ziyi, the movie tells of a rebel group known as House Of Flying Daggers that has been defying the government. Thus, two captains of Feng Tian County, Leo (played by an aged but still awesome Andy Lau) and Jin (the ever so delicious Takeshi Kaneshiro) are ordered to capture the new leader of the House within ten days, following the assassination of the old leader.

Suspecting that Mei (Zhang Ziyi), a beautiful new dancer at the local Peony Pavilion is actually the daughter of the old leader, Leo devises a plan to get Mei arrested, but when she refuses to divulge any information whatsoever even in the face of torture, the captains are forced to come up with a different plan.

This time, Jin pretends to be a lone warrior called ‘Wind’ who ‘rescues’ Mei from prison, earning her trust and escorting her to the secret headquarters of the House. However, things get complicated when the two fall in love with each other during the long journey.

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Like his previous film “Hero” (yes they’re from the same director) Zhang Yimou has crafted a visual splendour utilising colour to captivate the emotions of each scene. Detailed camera work and amazingly choreographed action added to the grandeur of this film.

But unlike “Hero” however, the story comes across as a little too much ‘fluff’. Yes, Mei and Wind went at it a couple of time, but the development of their romance was too superficial. Mei and Leo’s characters were not given much scope or development either.

It’s a good thing there were so many beautiful scenes that you might just end up being enthralled by it all that you can leave the storyline be and lose yourself in the magic that the director has crafted.

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I liked this movie, but not as much as “Hero” where action and melodrama walked hand in hand. Now the next wuxia film on my list would be “Seven Swords” by Tsui Hark, another film master.