Okay, it's actually a pretty good film, but after being so absolutely blown away by Zhang's previous martial arts picture, Hero, his follow up could only disappoint. It just feels so unambitious and small in comparison. The script is far less interesting and timeless. It takes over half the movie before anything especially fascinating happens. Sure, the "echo game" scene is okay. But think of Hero, whose first set piece was the fight between Nameless and Sky. When I saw that back in August, my jaw hit the floor. I knew I was in for something truly amazing. The echo game is interesting, but also a bit silly. I guess a lot of things in Hero were silly, too, when you think about them like the lake fight between Nameless and Broken Sword. But Hero captivated me, where Daggers barely registered. As far as the martial arts sequences go, I wasn't astounded by a single one. The bamboo forest was the best, but it isn't as wonderful as, say, the fight in the trees from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, or, indeed, even the bamboo forest fights of King Hu's A Touch of Zen, a picture I didn't like at all. It's only in Flying Dagger's final sequence where it triumphs over the mediocrity that has been trying to creep in throughout the film. Even with it, it still feels like only three-quarters of a movie. I'm probably being more harsh than I ought to, though. It has many worthwhile elements. The costumes are particularly great, and the only aspect that I would say is beyond Hero is the music. 7/10.
Review of House of Flying Daggers
