Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Bill Slocum "House Of Flying Daggers" starts out a marvelously visual experience but eventually suffers from being too driven in its desire to offer same. Taken as an adventure, a character study amid civil war, or as a love story, it was a letdown, albeit a highly sumptuous one.In 859 AD, China is riven by a longstanding struggle between a collapsing dynasty and an insurgency which has the support of the people, the House of Flying Daggers. After one apparent high-ranking member of this group is revealed as a blind dancer in a Feng Tian brothel, two captains agree on a plan to get her to take them to the Flying Daggers' mysterious leader. In time, we learn more than one game is being played."Don't turn a game into reality and spoil our plan," the senior captain, Leo (Andy Lau) warns his partner Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro).But Jin styles himself too much a lady killer and can't help himself, especially when the lady is the gorgeous and deadly Mei (Zhang Ziyi): "If I die under a skirt, I can still flirt as a ghost."The film sets up an epic confrontation between the government and the Flying Daggers, to which Jin and Mei will discover themselves just "pawns on a chessboard." Yet the only chessboard we see used is that of director and co-screenwriter Zhang Yimou, who employs his trio of charismatic actors in the foreground of gorgeous scenery and head-spinning stuntwork.In his DVD commentary with Ziyi, Yimou acknowledges the influence of the earlier wuxia classic "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (which featured Ziyi) as well as Sergio Leone's epic "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly." You see the latter influence show up especially at the end. But those films, for all their rich visual textures, had stories going for them, too.This time the story amounts to frequent repetitions of similar activities, such as government ambushes, or else spectacles that grow less focused and more obtrusive as the movie goes on. The point of the movie, we are led to believe, is this big battle "that will decide the fate of the Flying Daggers," yet we end up knowing no more about that than when we began.I can watch Ziyi feed squirrels for two hours and not complain. She has an especially stirring opening sequence playing something called "the echo game" which works as a setpiece not only because of its fantastic visual design but also because at that point in the movie, the plot is only getting started and Yimou's tendency to bask in visuals is not yet a deficit. It's a classic setpiece.The other main actors are also good company. Kaneshiro especially takes the seemingly thankless role of a playboy officer and turns it into the film's central role. To the extent I came to care for anyone, it is Jin, more even than Mei. Kaneshiro with both his devil-may-care attitude and deeper sensibilities draws you into this fantastic setting, enough that the first half of the film with its endless stunts and color schemes takes on elements of a quality joyride.Eventually, the story bogs down around numerous hidden identities. Artifice, ever-present, takes over. By the time I was watching an ambush in a bamboo forest conducted largely 20 feet off the ground, I no longer felt engaged but rather manipulated. And it gets even more protracted in a long and sloppy ending.As a cinematic experience, "House Of Flying Daggers" merits viewing. I just felt as little as I found myself caring about the way it ended, Yimou cared even less.

WakenPayne I wanted to see this movie for a while because I do enjoy the style of Wu Xia. I enjoyed Hero, Jade Warrior (although I don't think that can be counted because it's a Chinese/Finnish co-production) and I thought Crouching Tiger was okay. Impressed with Yimou Zhang's work I saw this and I actually think it's better than Hero.The plot is that in around 300BC China has this Robin Hood type group called The House Of Flying Daggers who steals from the rich to give to the poor among other criminal activities. A Soldier named Jin helps capture the former leader's blind daughter (Ziyi Zhang) but he falls in love with her and helps her to escape in order to find The House Of Flying Daggers. However it is an elaborate plot by the Chinese government to find the house and put an end to their criminal activities. However along the way things get more complicated then before.If there is any complaint with this movie it's that some of the twists and turns get very convoluted - I'm not going to reveal them but There is about 5 twists in 5 minutes at one point. It's almost like "Okay, enough!" I mean call it a nitpick but I think this movie could have been a little longer to spread these out.Aside from that I love almost everything else - I mean the cinematography isn't as good as Hero but I can see why it was nominated for the Oscar (I mean stuff like the final fight and the fight against the guards in the Bamboo forest - sorry if I screwed the term up is where it shines the best). The story is full of emotion and there is hardly a dumb moment in it. The acting is amazing, I have only seen Andy Lau in Infernal Affairs but he does a good job here and so does Ziyi Zhang and Takeshi Kaneshiro is very good as Jin. The editing in the fight scenes especially does get pretty choppy, I mean although I liked this more than Hero (yes, I said that) Hero does have the better fight scenes ONLY because they're better edited.I would say if you're a fan of this sort of movie - check it out. I mean out of all the Wu Xia films this is easily one of my favourites and definitely the best movie I've seen in a while. I'd say if you want to watch it for the beautiful looking Chinese country-side or the emotion put into the story then this is certainly one I'd recommend to you.

callanvass (Credit, IMDb) A romantic police captain breaks a beautiful member of a rebel group out of prison to help her rejoin her fellows, but things are not what they seem.This is a very beautiful movie. Not only is it full of twists and betrayal, but it has some mesmerizing action scenes as well. I'm normally a fan of wires, but I couldn't help but get into some of the fights. The photography is quite memorable, as are some of the comedic sequences as well. We also get great costumes. It does run a little long in the tooth when all is said and done, but it is genuinely a solid movie. Overall, if you like Crouching Tigger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, etc, this will be right up your alley7.8/10

Koustubh Bhattacharya Its been years now that I watched House of Flying Daggers. Well I must admit that at that time I was experimenting with various stuff and watching this movie would have made no sense unless I really got into it. As days pass we start giving lesser attention to things simply because we are not getting any less busy in life. I watched this movie from start to end, blinking very rarely because the cinematography was so stunning that you would be afraid to miss even a small part of it. The title characters were so mesmerising that they almost felt like magical. Although I had to watch it with English subtitles, every word made sense. The feeling of love, betrayal, honour and pain were so well portrayed... like changing seasons.Don't want to reveal anything. This movie is an absolute visual supernova that leaves you lovestruck and to some extent lovelorn.