House of Flying Daggers (2004)
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House of Flying Daggers Movie Review
House of Flying Daggers is a 2004 Chinese wuxia romance film directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Andy Lau, Zhang Ziyi and Takeshi Kaneshiro. It’s quite an entertaining flick.
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“If you kill him,
I’ll kill you with this dagger“
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It’s an atypical martial arts film which is more concerned with the romantic element of its story. Yes, it has a lot of action and that action is absolutely terrific, but at its core it’s a romance and particularly a love triangle between two men and a troublesome, fatal woman. I did find that third act a bit too soapy for my personal taste. It did turn into a soap opera with the rivalry between the two men and the emphasis on fate and tragedy.
However, the movie’s other romantic scenes really worked and I personally bought all of the film’s relationships. That’s because the characterization is very strong across the board. The film has its memorable supporting characters such as the titular members of the house. But the three main ones are excellent, even though none of them are particularly likable. Leo is realistic whereas Yin is a romantic. As for Mei, she’s certainly badass, but an unlikable bitch for sure.
Andy Lau is much better than Takeshi Kaneshiro as his performance is very emotive and complex. I also really liked Zhang Ziyi in this role as she’s a dancer in real life and it shows as they perfectly incorporated her dance moves into her fight choreography leading to some impressive, very authentic looking fight moves.
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House of Flying Daggers needs to be seen for its visuals alone. Yes, its storyline is fine and not great and the characters are also quite good, but the visuals reached true greatness which is to be expected from Yimou’s films. I was enthralled by the film’s look and in particular the use of the color green was perfect. That bamboo sequence was just mesmerizing to behold and rarely have I witnessed a more authentic fighting sequence than that one.
The same goes for literally every single scene in the movie including that opening scene with the first fight and dance number which was so memorable. I also loved the snow ending which turned out great despite it having not been intended by the director in the first place. The contrast of the white snow and red blood really worked favors in making that last fight stand out emotionally and in terms of the stakes.
I also adored the movie’s costumes. They are realistic and absolutely sumptuous. The whole movie looked luxurious to me and yes, I know that isn’t very realistic, especially the fights are over-the-top, but that all worked in the context of the film’s very operatic storyline. The same goes for the film’s score which is simply beautiful and very grand and also operatic. Really good stuff.
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The pacing is also excellent and the film flies by how fun it is. The direction from Zhang Yimou is reliably fantastic, though it’s far from his best and most enchanting works. The dialogue also could have been a bit better. But the action is absolutely thrilling. All of the fights looked immensely cool with the knives, swords and particularly martial arts all being superbly executed and all of it really was hugely entertaining to watch.
House of Flying Daggers is certainly a bit too soapy in its love triangle third act, but it’s still well acted, reliably greatly directed by Zhang Yimou and beautifully scored as well. There are two main reasons to watch this film: one is of course the action as all of the fights in the film are beautifully choreographed and hugely entertaining and another is certainly its aesthetic as Yimou once again brings a lot of artistic flair to the picture with the bamboo sequence being particularly arresting and the use of the color green being gorgeous.
