Review of House of Flying Daggers (2004) by Calibmcbolts — 29 May 2016

This is such a silly movie, about halfway through the film the plot is forgotten and substituted for a melodramatic love triangle that no one cares about, major aspects remain unexplained and unresolved, all in favor of a love story.

''House of Flying Daggers'' is merely a love story, the martial arts scenes lose all meaning and relevance, even the 'epic' finale. THe ending is nothing but preposterous. Sure, there are moments of visual and emotional beauty, but all is lost when the interesting plot, that is setup in the first half, gets thrown out of the window in favor of a love story...

''House of Flying Daggers'' feauture some amazing scenary, stunning costume design and lavish cinematography -- But also a lousy plot, poor acting (except maybe the finale), little continuity and a laughable ending. It's 2 hour run time almost feels like 3 and the feeling of being cheated by an unedning set of directorial switches becomes as inescapable as tose boomeranging daggers.

While ''Hero'' (a different film by the same director, which truly IS a masterpiece) leaves you pondering meanings for days, ''House of Flying Daggers'' doesnt leave you with anything more than, ''Swords are sharp, Ziyi Zhang is pretty. There sure is a lot of bamboo in China.