House of Flying Daggers

Hands Down one of the most visually stunning martial arts movie in the last decade, House of Flying Daggers succeed in bringing out the raw energy of ancient Chinese mythology like no other; it is right up there with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Unlike Hero, who came out along the same period, and by the same director, Daggers is not so much an epic, but about love, honor, and deception. Andy Lau and Takashi Kaneshiro stars as two high rank captains in the Chinese government. When Takashi stumbled upon a beauty (Zhang Zi Yi) at the local entertainment house, they discovered that she is an undercover sent by the House of Flying Daggers, a faction that the Chinese government hopes to overthrow. Andy and Takashi then plot a series of plans to gain her trust and use her to take down the faction, but what they think they're involve in may be a mere deception to the truth underneath.

The visual art of this movie is unparallel in the world of American movies. The scene of the drum games near the start of the movie perfectly highlights just how beautiful this movie looks. The dagger, which flies in unexpected but deathly accurate ways to its target, was done extremely well and almost to a point of art. The customs and the sets are also another huge draw to the average martial arts film. Zhang Zi Yi's role in this movie helps establish once again on just how good of an actress she is. Andy Lau is typical awesome Andy Lau and Takashi Kaneshiro serves up a very good counter character to Lau.

Although this movie was not filmed by a Hong Kong company, it is still a very good movie that anyone interested in Asian filmography should watch.

Year: 2004
Director: Zhang Yimou

8.1/10