THE HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGER
(SHI MIAN MAI FU)

In Chinese it means 'Surrounded or Ambushed from ten directions'

Director : Zhang YiMao

Takeshi Kaneshiro .... Jin
Andy Lau .... Leo
Ziyi Zhang .... Mei
Dandan Song .... Yee

BRIEF SYNOPSIS

Set during toward the end of the Tang Dynasty. The story starts with two police deputies, Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and Leo (Andy Lau) suspected that someone from the Peony Pavillion pleasure house is a member of the House of Flying Dagger, a revolutionary faction that tries to bring down the government. So they set up a secret plan to investigate and lure out the suspect, which turns out to be Mei (Zhang ZiYi), a beautiful, but blind dancer. From there the story develops into a complex triangle relationship among the three main characters in which they were involved in a perillous journey through the breathtaking forests and other scenic landscapes that would or would not lead them to the House of Flying Dagger

REVIEW

I finished watching the HK Edko's DVD DTS version last night. Takeshi used his own voice, even with that horrible Mandarin, that's for sure, and so did Andy Lau.

The movie was filled with artistic choreography, beautiful period costumes, amazing fight scenes (although some gravity-defying dagger throwing scenes are overused), breathtaking sceneries, extravagant although sometimes over-the-top visual effects. It was as if I was watching a set of fast-moving, brilliant artistic photographs from the Master, called Zhang Yi Mou.

This was by no means a blockbuster of its own, another milestone in Zhang's directing career, a lighter version of 'Hero' which focused primarily on love triangle between the three leading characters, Jin (Takeshi), Leo (Andy), and Xiao Mei (Zhang Zi Yi).

Mr. Zhang's talent for visual perfection, a candid reflection of modern moving image is without a doubt, in a league of his own, only surpassed by a very few other Directors worldwide. 'The House of Flying Dagger' offers an visual fiesta during the Peony Pavillion scene, and Takeshi's acting, for once, held his own and gives us a believable look of his role. Yi Zi's acting as a blind showgirl also proved that her usually stagnant performance has evolved and she is now a more versatile actress, who is able to take her talent to another level. She looked stunning as well.

But what a movie needs is a believable storyline, not necessarily complex, and hence a good scripts, and this movie lacks just that. So all the praises and glory for Mr. Zhang stopped here.

After the Peony Pavillion scene, the story moved forward, and nevertheless we were fed with the forest, field, and bamboo forest scene. These follow-up scenes were there to show us how Takeshi and Yi Zi develop their affection in such a short time, and it failed to give me this impression. I did, however, agree that the chemistry between them worked but short of love.

Andy Lau's constant wooden performance also did not help the movie to develop further. He looked tense and physically aging. The rape scene provides evidence of his unsatisfactory performance, although having a much better acting skills than he used to. The love triangle that Mr. Zhang is trying to show us therefore falls short.

The most disappointment I have was the ending scene. It gave me the impression that the story is incomplete and did not have a satisfactory closure to a such beautifully filmed beginning -The Peony Pavillion scene. Is this because Anita Mui passed away during the filming ? So that they had to revised and worked around the story to give it a different ending ? The duel scene between Takeshi and Andy was actually quite descent, but totally ruined when Yi Zi suddenly woke up for her death. Mr. Zhang could have done it differently. The changing season worked to dramatize the final duel, at least for me, as most Asian movies like to do, although this would spark more critiques and more fans scratching their heads due to the illogical arguments as well. Then at the very end, there was an English song when the credit started to roll.

I wish Mr. Zhang all the success in the world, but I beg him to revaluate his roots, which is to provide us with catchy visual galore with quality storyline.