Chinese martial art movie at its best. 5 stars are simply not enough. Don't miss this movie, really.

From the director of the critically acclaimed martial arts epic Hero, comes House of Flying Daggers. Like Hero, House of Flying Daggers is a great visual experience as director Yimou Zhang does an unbelievable job at creating some vivid imagery...
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From the director of the critically acclaimed martial arts epic Hero, comes House of Flying Daggers. Like Hero, House of Flying Daggers is a great visual experience as director Yimou Zhang does an unbelievable job at creating some vivid imagery through the use of colors. This time around, the movie is set during a time in China where the ruling Tang dynasty is in decline and groups of rebels are on the rise, the most notorious being the house of flying daggers. Enter police officers Jin and Leo who find out that a member of the flying daggers may be in a brothel. The member that they hear about turns out to be blind! Mei, the blind girl (played by the stunning Ziyi Zhang) is found out and is escorted by a disguised Jin back the flying daggers hideout. Along the way Jin starts to fall for Mei, and a conflict arises within himself; can he complete his mission?

The fights in House of Flying Daggers are a bit of a mixed bag. You have some great fights, like one featured in a bamboo forest, and you have some not so great bouts near the end of the film. The cinematography is overall great, and is seen early on in the film with the drum scene. This scene features a game where the officer Leo throws beeds at drums, at which Mei must hit the corresponding drum that just made a sound, in a sort of simon-says sort of game. Sadly the movie does fall apart a little bit near the end, which is seen in the somewhat lackluster final fight, and all that happens. The acting is good on the whole, even though there are some bad spots.

Overall, House of Flying Daggers is a joy to watch, but unlike Hero, it falls just short of being great. The mixture of the fights does inflict some damage, but ultimately it was the ending that kept House of Flying Daggers down. But not saying that is isn't a good movie, if you have a chance to see it, then don't miss out.