House of Flying Daggers

HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS (2004) - Dec. 22, 2004
After the amazing Hero, Zhang Yimou missteps horribly with this disappointing kung-fu movie. Like Hero, it is in the same genre with the awful and overrated Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. However, Hero managed to transcend the genre with its breathtaking visuals, exciting action, well-developed characters and Rashomon-esque storyline. House of Flying Daggers, on the other hand, wallows in the genre, recalling all the worst elements of Crouching Tiger: the stilted romance, the over-long running time, the protracted scenes, and the unexciting action sequences. That's not to say it was a bad movie, per se. It was well directed, obviously (I don't think Zhang Yimou is capable of making a movie that doesn't look good). And for the most part I wasn't bored (though almost every scene over-stayed its welcome by at least a few minutes). But I just expect so much more from Zhang Yimou, especially after how mind-blowingly good Hero was. **1/2