WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Married Baby Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Matt Greene All I knew about this movie was that the action is supposed to be meticulous and beautiful. What I didn't know is so is the story. A twisting, hidden-identities, romantic intrigue twist on the Robin Hood drama, it's a vibrant and beautiful marriage of wonderfully written melodrama and breathtakingly cool excitement...with some truly terrible CGI.

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

Anssi Vartiainen A Chinese wuxia film riding on the coattails of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, House of Flying Daggers deviates from the typical wuxia formula by being more of a love story rather than action-packed adventure. This ends up being both the strength and the weakness of the film.So what's the story. The 9th century China is in turmoil. Tang Dynasty is weakening and rebellious civil movements have begun to crop up all over the land. One of these is the eponymous House of Flying Daggers, and now the local police department believes that they have managed to locate one of the girls belonging to this organization. A plan is hatched to covertly release the girl and have her lead them to her leader. Yet problems arise as the amorous young police officer starts to fall for the fierce warrior woman.From that you can speculate much of the plot, and not in a bad way either. Sure, it's a bit predictable, but I'd rather see it as sticking to tried and true methods. Zhang Ziyi is an extremely fetching main female lead, and Takeshi Kaneshiro and Andy Lau are rather good as well as Jin and Liu, the two main police officers.Furthermore, it's an utterly gorgeous film. The settings are rich and detailed, the use of colour is phenomenal, the fight sequences are imaginative and enjoyable to look at and the music brings all together. One of the best looking films I've seen in a long time. The scenes in the bamboo forest with their thousands of shades of green are just... wow, I have no words.Yet I think that this film could have been much better with a change of focus. The setting about rebellious groups fighting against a dying dynasty is an interesting one and could have made for a really interesting adventure. Yet the main focus of the film is whether or not they really love each other? There's a missed opportunity here. Not that the love story isn't nice and heart-breaking and all that, but I was constantly questioning in my head, "Yeah, that's nice, but what about the rebellion? What about the House and its goals?" I can't exactly blame the director Yimou Zhang for trying to do something new with the genre, but perhaps a bit less adventure-oriented premise would have managed to keep my attention where it should have been.Still, it's a good film if you're looking for gorgeous visual, great action scenes and good acting performances. Recommended.

poj-man House of Flying Daggers is a brilliant movie. The story, acting directing, cinematography, design work, etc....are all fantastic.The story is a love story nested inside a war story. Or...if one prefers...a "kung fu" story. It doesn't matter which perspective one chooses.Visually the color palate is a continuous feast for the eyes. Many Hollywood movies seek to achieve a monochrome look. HFD brings color and nature to life in scene after scene.There is true character development in the film. The male protagonist states that he will bring the female protagonist to "where there are flowers blooming." In classic oriental style...when the male protagonist brings the female protagonist to the field where the flowers are blooming the metaphoric parallel between the field and the flower that is actually blooming is brought to full emotional life.The full dictates of "life getting in the way of love" are explored. If you watch HFD and don't "see" this then you are missing what is really going on.