Mainlander Zhang Yimou follows up his mega-success Hero with another wu-xia pic, House of Flying Daggers, which abandons the tightly woven mythic narrative structure of his last film for a plot that wanders about like Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’s. Throw in the liberal use of CGI and the videogame style slow motion moments and this seems to be a film pandering to as wide an international audience as it can reach—good news for the newcomers or those simply aching to see an Asian film on the big screen, but not so special for long-time HK cinema fans.
During the Tang dynasty, two police officials, Leo and Jin, are assigned to the task of disintegrating the most threatening rebel faction, The House of Flying Daggers, by killing its mysterious new leader. They are tipped off about a brothel housing a member of the Flying Daggers and the two officials find a blind dancer Mei, who becomes part of their clever plan to end the rebellion.
With a script chock full of familiar themes, political treachery and wu-xia clichés, House of Flying Daggers seems to be the archetypal wu-xia film that just happens to be directed by Zhang Yimou, rather than the acclaimed director’s take on the genre. As a result, the memorable, understated characters of his mainland dramas become emptier shells in this film and it is difficult to care for them at all. The pic simply does not have the foundation of a strong, unique script.
Instead, it goes down the checklist for what someone decided a current day wu-xia film must have. There’s very stylish, well-choreographed action. Stunning cinematography. Vibrant, symbolic production design. A Touch of Zen bamboo tree homage. And of course, Zhang Ziyi.
And admittedly, all of these are handled very well—the action scenes best both Hero and Crouching Tiger with characters charged by an irrepressible energy, shrugging off machete slashes and dagger stabbings and going at it for quite some time. There are no elegant one-strike victories here. These are gloriously intense fights. With the Christopher Doyle lensed visuals—including wondrous seasonal transitions from rich greenery to autumn backdrops and stark winter settings, the film just gives and gives all the eye candy anyone could ever want until ending on a memorable climax. Zhang finally makes the viewer really care at this moment, but it’s a shame that it comes so late.
Still, despite a lackluster script, everything else in House is polished beyond perfection. The star-studded cast of Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Zhang Ziyi and fantastic action sequences are alone reason enough to see this entertaining blockbuster. The pic just does not take very many risks and it lacks the subtle heart present in most of Zhang’s other classic works.
Reviewed by Tarun
