Review of House of Flying Daggers (2004) by Nicholas L — 25 Jun 2010

Usually I never do these reviews because I do not like to seem like I am critic as I am not a fan of critics, but after buying this movie on Blu-ray this movie deserves my full praise, and I wish I had seen it earlier.

This movie is astounding from the look, to the acting, the cinematography, the story, the love behind the characters, the action and the soundtrack. What I loved about this movie first off was the story, and how it was unique. This is basically a love story, but it is a complex one on so many different levels, and you see so much symbolism in the terms of loyalty, companionship, and trust between the two. It was not cliche at all, you can see at times that they were unsure about being together, but in the end they were in love, and they did not hide it.

The acting in this movie was fantastic. All of the cast did an amazing job, especially three main stars: Takeshi Kaneshiro, Ziyi Zhang and Andy Lau. The chemistry was great between the three of them, and how they each played off each other was done so well, you can tell these three actors really worked well together and helping create this masterpiece.

The cinematography and the look of this was beautiful to look at, I could not take my eyes off it. All of it was stunning and breathtaking, and it added a huge element to the world of this story, and it just showed the beauty of China in the year 859 AD. Not only was the look astounding and the environment itself, you can tell that these two things really worked with the story, and fit the scenes they in nicely, whether a love scene, a talking scene or action scene. Everything was symbolic in essence, and I respect that hugely. And in my opinion, many Hollywood movies lacks so much symbolism in their movies. Not all of them, but most of them.

The action was fantastic. There was not much of it, and I did not have a problem with that as action does not make the movie or story, but when there was action, it was done really well. And like the rest of the movie, the action was symbolic, it wasn't just there. It symbolized the conflict between the characters, and along with the visuals, it built tension perfectly, as I could not take my eyes of the screen.

Finally the soundtrack. The soundtrack was GREAT. And I cannot emphasize that enough. I loved it. So subtle, so beautiful, I was so taken by it. It had tension to it, but it was beautiful and flowing. Basically it felt like you could fall asleep soundly to it, or you can feel as if you were dreaming. I recommended the soundtrack fully.

Basically as you can tell if you read all this, I loved the movie. It wasn't perfect, no movie is, but it was near perfect in my opinion in every single way. And if you want to experience the film in the best way possible watch it on Blu-ray. I know for sure that this film is in my top 20. :).