As I watched the daggers fly through the sky, all I could think of was flying out of the theater.
"House of Flying Daggers" opens in the year 859 A.D. with one of the most enlightened of Chinese empires, the Tang Dynasty, in decline. With a corrupt government and an inept emperor, many civilians are becoming frustrated and rebellious. Despite the recent assassination of their leader, the group known as the House of Flying Daggers stands as the greatest threat to the empire. Local police deputies Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and Leo (Andy Lau) are ordered to locate the new leader of the group in a period of 10 days, after having just spent three months in search of the former leader.
Their only lead is Mei (Zhang Ziyi), a new dancer at the Peony Pavilion who is suspected of having ties to the underground faction. Jin visits the Pavilion with hopes of seducing the beautiful blind girl in order to acquire information about the group. Leo arrests her, offering to release her if she can demonstrate sufficient dancing talent. After an entrancing dance, Mei attacks Leo and is quickly carried off to prison.
When it is clear she will not release any information about her group, Leo and Jin devise a new plan in which Jin will rescue Mei from prison, befriend her to gain her trust and then trick her to lead them to the House of Flying Daggers in order to infiltrate the group. Following a battle with army troops who are not aware of the staged relationship, Jin changes his mind about the illusion and about Mei.
A love story begins to unfold between the police deputy and the criminal he is deceiving. Needless to say, this notion of star-crossed lovers is far from original. In a rather clich?©d relationship, the two fight their way through impossible situations, including one incident in which they are surrounded by ten soldiers with swords and shields. The story focuses almost entirely on the relationship between Mei and Jin, though it rarely touches on the significance of their
journey.
Takeshi and Zhang have wonderful chemistry together onscreen and convince viewers that their relationship, built entirely on fraudulent premises, may in fact last. Additionally, Zhang's performance as a blind woman is impeccable as she demonstrates fighting skills seemingly unattainable to someone who cannot see. However, her marksmanship with a dagger, in addition to her unobstructed sprint through the forest, is laughable, with blame lying solely on director Zhang Yimou.
Without a doubt, the fight scenes are spectacular, even if they are completely unrealistic. One involves an escape from a battalion of soldiers who jump from tree to tree, hurling sharpened bamboo at the fugitives. While some may claim that these battles are overdone, with unnecessary flight and slow motion and boomerang-like daggers that spin around shields, the synchronized choreography shows the true beauty of martial arts, comparable to that of a ballet.
Even though the beautiful fighting is a major selling point for this movie, the battles often last too long and sometimes appear superfluous to the actual plot of the movie. Often, it seemed that the display of martial arts onscreen could have been excluded without taking away anything from the movie. Other than serving as a diversion from the sappy romance, some scenes seemed to be a waste of time, in addition to being repetitive.
As the battle scenes are visually delightful, so are the scenery and set design. From makeup to costume, and from hair style to weapon choice, no matter is overlooked in replicating ninth-century China. Even cups and pitchers reveal director Zhang's careful attention to detail. Most notable is the mesmerizing dress worn by Mei in the Pavilion, which has enormously long sleeves in order to entice her viewers.
The landscapes are spectacular, frequently depicting the beauty and vastness of the land. Unfortunately for us, the Chinese dialogue forces us to rely on subtitles, which (probably) fail to capture the true essence of the script. This is primarily revealed in the translation of the original title, "Shi mian mai fu," which literally means "Ambushed from ten directions."
The most disappointing aspect of the film is a confusing plot the takes impossible twists. It was, without a doubt, constantly surprising, but only because the story proved to be so outlandish and improbable. With double-agents, apparent resurrection and a final scene during a freak snowstorm, the only thing left to shock viewers would be if the entire movie turned out to be a dream in a character's head. I recommend that those of you who enjoy eye-popping martial arts check out this romantic action flick, but be sure to bring a date looking for a far cry from a drippy romance.
