House Of Flying Daggers

One thing I absolutely hate about a film is when it takes advantage of me. In that case I should have hated House of Flying Daggers for that one reason alone. It constantly drops new twists on you that are impossible to see coming. I like it when a film gives you a chance to figure things beforehand without twisting your wrist at the last second. They might as well have dropped the beautiful scenery, well thought out sword play, and romantic love affair and said it was all a dream. That would have made more sense.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved the house, its daggers, and all that flying. What I can’t stand are empty character developments especially when they are used to careen the story onward. This is too common in the last half of the movie for me. The film is literally split in two. The first half is comparable to the enjoyment I received while watching 2000’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The second half, once you get past the fact that they tricked you, follows the love triangle that is formed. Actually, the battle that is supposedly going to take place between the rebels (the House of Flying Daggers) and Tang Dynasty government is never shown. Why so much buildup? We never know.

It makes a person wonder if this could have easily been made into two separate movies. The answer is yes. I don’t think it would’ve sat well with American audiences, though. Anyone who went to see this was probably drawn in by Hero - Zhang Yimou’s previous film. They probably weren’t disappointed. It comes in with everything promised. Saying the film has rich visuals and unique fighting scenes doesn’t really pay homage to how great everything actually came out in the final product. Bamboo fighting scenes and the “echo game” are just a small piece of the pie.

When the credits begin to roll you may not care as much about the film’s inevitable flaws. It doesn’t impact it as much as I made it sound here because after a few moments of disbelief you are teased with more beautiful scenery. It’s the equivalent to a friend slapping you and then sticking a hundred dollars in your wallet. In the end you’ll probably forgive them for slapping you because of the money.

I like what he did as a whole but as far as the story goes, I’ve seen much better. I would’ve liked to see more of Jin and Mei story rather than being sidetracked. I can see now in retrospect that if it would have continued without the odd plot twists it would have just been a Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet. I think we can all agree we’ve seen enough adaptations of that story.