House Of Flying Daggers: Mark's Take
01/01/2005 . Source: Mark R. Leeper 

Beautiful to look at, Zhang Yimou's most recent fantasy martial arts film from China has a cliched plot and a little too much overripe melodrama.

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Zhang Yimou made his reputation with serious historical films shot with a beautiful visual sense and creative use of color. His films include RED SORGHUM and RAISE THE RED LANTERN. With the success of Ang Lee's CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, Zhang Yimou's style turned more to action and entertainment blending with art with his film HERO. That film was an international success, though slow to come to the United States, and he has made a second action film, House Of Flying Daggers. Sadly his hand is not as sure with this film. It comes off as a satire and even on occasion had the audience laughing at, not with, some of the outrageous melodramatic excesses. For example, at one point a spy gets a dagger in the back. His master tells him to leave the dagger in his back because it makes his cover seem more believable. So the character goes on with life in spite of the dagger sticking in his back. It would be hard to take such an idea seriously in a James Bond film. Here it seems even more outrageous. House Of Flying Daggers will probably be one of Zhang Yimou's lesser films.

The film tells how in A. D. 859 the government of China is less than popular with the people. Among the groups resisting the government is a secret society calling itself the House of the Flying Daggers. The plot mostly deals with the journey of a young warrior of mysterious motives escorting the blind warrior who may be a member of the secret society. They go on a journey while both are being chased by the government's police. The plot of the corrupt government and the people fighting back is a very familiar one. The blind woman is herself a sort of female Zatoichi and her companion seems to have ninja-like skills. Who are these people and are they good or bad? Are they even on the same side?

Where HERO had a more approachable plot than previous Yimou films, the story of this film goes further to being familiar and almost cliched. That may work better in the director's homeland where people have had less access to film. It feels like Yimou is reaching for a broader audience with more entertainment and less edification. One thing that does remain the same is Yimou's color sense. Though it is not as obvious in this film as in HERO the use of color is very controlled. This House Of Flying Daggers has some beautiful scenes of seasonal foliage.

When I watch a martial arts film I distinguish between three kinds of feats. Those actually performed as filmed. Those that would be possible with sufficient skill but are enhanced for the screen, and those that could never be possible with the current laws of physics. This film has a little too much wirework that falls into the third category. For once Zhang Yimou has given us a turn-your-mind-off sort of film.

It will be interesting to see how the international film market takes to Zhang Yimou's House Of Flying Daggers