House of Flying Daggers
2004
Director: Zhang Yimou
Starring: Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Ziyi, and Andy Lau

House of Flying Daggers is the second martial arts film directed by Zhang Yimou, whose first martial arts film Hero gained recognition for melding beauty and martial arts action into one film. House of Flying Daggers does the same thing but with thrice the emotional heft of Hero and with even more stylish fight sequences.



Takeshi Kaneshiro (Anna Magdalena, Returner) is Jin, one of two captains of Feng Tian County. His mission to locate the House of Flying Daggers. With only the help of the blind Mei (Zhang Ziyi) he is able to do this. His partner and fellow captain, Leo (Andy Lau), tries to tell him that falling in love with Mei can only create more trouble. Kaneshiro and Ziyi give great performances as they both fall in love progressively throughout the film. The only okay performance comes from Lau, who is trying to channel his character in Infernal Affairs. One scene even made me laugh as it's script is identical to Infernal Affairs. Another problem with Lau's character is that there's more to him then the script gives. On the surface, it's just another character, but inside, you know that's there's a fleshed out character waiting to be born.



The fight sequences, however, are of a much higher quality than Hero. Rather than stand against one another in total meditation, the fights are brutal and quite violent. Whereas Hero only had one trinklet of blood coming from a sword, "Daggers" has the blood flow more freely this time. The blood creates more tension in the fight sequences and makes them feel more authentic.



If there is only one downfall of the film, is that the ending is quite lackluster compared to the entire film before it. The story before the final battle is quite enriching, fulfilling, and excellent. Only the ending's script is horrible feeling like a teen movie rather than an epic action motion picture. If there is one good thing about the ending, it's the final words of the film, which struck me as truly brilliant.



The cinematography here compares to Hero is that it is again extremely beautiful but only one color bleeds through the film and that is green (meaning peace and tranquiity in Chinese). I found the cinematography here to be less exhausting and quite amazing.

I think the best part of the film apart from the grand cinematography, great acting, and amazing fight sequences, is actually the music for the film. It can be at times tragic and beautiful at the same time. Hero had a great soundtrack but Tan Dun's contribution felt too much like Crouching Tiger and less original. The score here by Shigeru Umebayashi is original and powerful. I absolutely loved this soundtrack. The final song sung by Kathleen Battle brought chills down my back.



Overall, this film could have been perfect if some of the final dialogue was improved. But it is still, by far, one of the best films of the year.

Grade: A