Review of House of Flying Daggers (2004) by Garethtagg — 17 May 2005

Amazing scenary & stunning costume design... ...lousy plot, poor acting, little or no continuity & a laughable ending (apparently, I walked out about 30 minutes before the end). For those of you who saw this movie & felt cheated here are some less flattering quotes from the critics:

"a tedious...excuse for this director to indulge his fetish for digitalized blood and daggers and...immaculately composed nature shots".

-- Jay Antani, L.A. ALTERNATIVE PRESS.

"The worst kung fu movie since Sammo Hung's Heart of Dragon.".

-- Jeffrey M. Anderson, COMBUSTIBLE CELLULOID.

"An outsized and endlessly pretentious romantic action-melodrama, in which the director has clearly lost any sense of moderation or self-discipline.".

"Its 2 hour length seems like 3 and the feeling of being cheated by an unending set of directorial switches becomes as inescapable as those boomeranging daggers.".

-- Jules Brenner (FC), VARIAGATE.COM.

"While Hero leaves you pondering meanings for days, House of Flying Daggers doesn't leave you with anything more than, 'Swords are sharp. Ziyi Zhang is pretty. There sure is a lot of bamboo in China.' ".

-- Carlo Cavagna, Aboutfilm.