When all the lies become the truth, what will you do?

By Kenneth Chiu • UrbanWire
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Following his box office success and 4 Academy Awards-winner Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero, Zhang Yimou returns after a year with his latest wuxia (martial arts and swordplay) offering, House of Flying Daggers.

In ancient China, the Tang Dynasty is on the decline and the tyrant king’s influence wanes. The unrest among the people soon climaxes into a raging storm with the emergence of renegades and insurgents seeking to overthrow the corrupt government. The strongest of the rebel sects is the House of Flying Daggers, whose leader was recently killed by government forces.

Word has it that the House has a new leader and that the new courtesan at the Peony Pavilion is a relative of his. Leo (Andy Lau) and philanderer Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro), 2 police captains are sent to investigate. At the Peony, an undercover Jin finds out that the courtesan, Mei (Zhang Ziyi), is as stunningly beautiful as she is blind. In a staged arrest, Leo storms the Peony Pavilion and takes Jin and Mei into custody on grounds of impropriety and being indecently dressed. Leo agrees to have Mei released if she can beat him in a round of The Echo, a game of peanuts, dance and drums.

Mei does impressively, no, impossibly, in what is an extreme exaggeration of the dancing arts as she sends the silken fabric of sleeves hurtling towards the drums such they actually resonate violently in the sequence of drums which Leo flicks the nuts at. Like, WOW. Mei then attempts to take Leo’s life, which ensues in a fight scene of flailing swords and slinky sleeves that pack more than just a punch.

After a protracted display of martial arts, Mei is defeated and placed under lockup. Now for Plan A: Stage 2. Jin slips effortlessly into the role of sympathiser of the House and springs Mei from her cell, taking her on a cross-country ride to freedom, as part of the grand scheme to extract information about the House. The government forces that are unaware of the Jin and his mission bear down relentlessly upon the pair and Jin is forced to choose between his survival and the lives of his colleagues as he is drawn deeper into the abyss of hopelessness with each life he takes.

In the forests, Jin’s carnal instincts are aroused as he watches Mei bathe, after convincing her that he wouldn’t. To reassure her, he would constantly report his distance through flicking the hilt of his sabre; a distant “ding” would show his distance. The scheming captain attaches his sabre to a tree in the distance and brilliantly has a squirrel do the reporting for him with its teeth while he plays voyeur in one of the movie’s more smile-inducing episodes.

All alone in the forest, the pair then engage in several rounds of I-want-it, I-want-it-not which got pretty annoying. A romantic action flick, the House of Flying Daggers was often found wanting as there wasn’t much romance going on and the lead pair often appears as though all they wanted was a one-night stand. Actually, even that, they appeared undecided about.

After what we’ve seen and come to expect from the revolutionary The Matrix, the fight scenes just don’t seem to cut it; the choreography doesn’t appear as smooth or slick. Fine, this is a totally different genre of combat altogether, so maybe the comparisons shouldn’t be drawn. Even so, it seems predictable and somewhat slow and weak, lacking the fast-paced “oomph” and finesse seen in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

The aerial battles in the bamboo trees are a sight to relish, but they soon get boring as the filmmakers appear to be deliberately prolonging the scenes just to milk them for all they’re worth. The scenic shots are a joy to behold with the autumn leaves of amber and gold along with the spanning plains, ala Hero, which is fast becoming one of Zhang’s trademarks. However, this is also marred by the sudden blizzard, which turns a clear bright autumn day into a stormy white one, causing the battling Jin and Leo to appear as if they have been crossing swords for an entire season! The makers can’t seem to decide if Mei should live or die; she appears to die only to revive herself umpteen times. Guessing whether it’s she has finally kicked the bucket should prove interesting.

Not all is lost, however, as the film has an intriguing plot full of twists, turns and deceit, which will quite shock and surprise you, with virtually all of the characters having more to them than meets the eye.

While it can’t brag to be the best wuxia flick, House of Flying Daggers still has what it takes to leave an impression. We expect no less from the Zhang Yimou brand.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars