Movie Review - (House Of Flying Daggers)
Hi, everyone. Today, I am going to introduce you a movie
called “House of Flying Daggers”. House of Flying Daggers is a
2004 martial art film directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Andy Lau, Takeshi
Kaneshiro and Zhang Ziyi. This movie has won a lot of awards such as the Best
Foreign Language Film in Boston Film Critics as well as in Los Angeles Film
Critics. While the director of the movie, Zhang Yimou also won the Best Director
in many critics and academy in this movie.
Coming back to the movie, “House of Flying Daggers”, it
happened in Tang Dynasty, 859 CE. The once great Tang Dynasty is in decline.
Numerous rebel groups have formed, the largest of which is the House of Flying
Daggers, based in Fengtian county. The Flying Daggers steal from the rich and
give to the poor, gaining the support of the locals. The local authorities
manage to kill the leader of the Flying Daggers, but the rebel group only
becomes stronger, due to a mysterious new leader. Leo (Andy Lau) and Jin
(Takeshi Kaneshiro), two police captains, are ordered to kill the new leader
within ten days. And the story begins.
In my opinion I feel that this movie is more to love story
than a straight martial arts film. This is because the story is mainly talking
about a girl called Xiao Mei (Zhang Ziyi) fall in love with two men. One is
Leo, he is the undercover from the House of Flying Daggers to Fentian county to
do the secret mission. The another one is Jin. He is the police captain who purposely
rescued Xiao Mei and followed her to the House Of Flying Daggers. Xiao Mei is a
member of House of Flying Daggers. She also becomes the undercover to be a
dancer and she met Jin. At first, Xiao Mei is fall in love with Leo but two of
them never meet for 3 years because of the mission. When Xiao Mei met Jin, she
is fall in love with him because Jin saved her life for a few times. At the
end, Xiao Mei chooses Jin and dies for him to save his life. In the movie, Xiao
Mei sings a song. The song is actually related to the theme of the movie. The film
features the theme of a beautiful woman who brings woe to two men. This theme
is borrowed from a famous poem written by the Han Dynasty poet Li Yannian.
In the north there is a beauty; surpassing
the world, she stands alone.
A glance from her will overthrow a city;
another glance will overthrow a nation.
One would rather not know whether it will be
a city or a nation that will be overthrown.
As it would be difficult to behold such a
beauty again.
Next, there are 2 scenes that impressed me which is the Echo
game and the war in the bamboo grove. The Echo Game takes place inside the
Peony Pavilion, a luxurious brothel that flourishes in the dying days of the
Tang Dynasty, 859 A.D. An undercover policeman named Jin goes there on reports
that the new dancer may be a member of the House of Flying Daggers, an
underground resistance movement. The dancer is Xiao Mei and she is blind.
After
Mei dances for Jin, his fellow cop Leo challenges her to the Echo Game, in
which the floor is surrounded by drums on poles, and he throws a nut at one of
the drums. She is to hit the same drum with the weighted end of her long
sleeve. First one nut, then three, then countless nuts are thrown, as Mei
whirls in mid-air to follow the sounds with beats of her own, this becomes a
ballet of movement and percussion. This impressed me because of her action, and
the way she perform to hit the drums.
Next, the fight in the bamboo grove impressed me also. The warriors
attack from above, hurling sharpened bamboo shafts that surround the lovers,
and then swooping down on tall, supple bamboo trees to attack at close range.
The sounds of the whooshing bamboo spears and the click of dueling swords and
sticks have a musical effect. The effects are greats.
However, I feel that there are some part which I feel is
quite boring. Example, like the fighting during the ending there is a bit long.
Besides, the early part of the movie also not very interesting, maybe it has
not get into the story line.
In conclusion, overall the film brings a lot of meaning to
us. It depends how you criticize it. In my opinion I think that this is a good
movie. I hope everyone can enjoy watching this movie.
Thank you. =)
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