Watcher beware (Spoilers ahead)
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Hokay, I went and watched this last night not knowing what to expect except that they claimed it was better than Crouching Tiger ... yes and no.

The plot was far better in a chinese tragic drama sense but if you're expecting a fight scene after fight scene forget it.

However, I have to admit that the 6 fight scenes you see are "holy crap dood". By far the most amazing I have ever seen in any martial art film or any film to be honest. The ninja's... oh my god the ninja's... just wow.

Each fight is bigger than it's predecessor and the final fight being mind blowing. There are some absolute wacked out plot twists that you learn early on and some later on.

So beware, while this movie is a great example of a chinese heroic tragedy, it is not yopur typical hack and slack kung fu movie.

1/19/2007 7:44:54 AM

The movie was great. Definite DVD purchase.

1/19/2007 8:58:11 AM

more like curse of the golden shower...amirite?

1/19/2007 10:19:45 AM

It's a Zhang Yimou film. He's a master of cinema, wuxia or not (honestly, I prefer his non martial arts films). I wanted to have visual sex with this movie, though- aside from action scenes and anything else, it's fucking beautiful. In any case, dysfunctional human relationship stories are more or less his bread and butter and I'm glad he went back to it. There's no reason to "warn" people that a movie has more substance than just action.





Also, Gong Li is amazing in this film. She's basically amazing in all of his films. I don't know why she has ZERO emotional range in things like Memoirs of a Geisha and then emotes perfectly here.



Wait, who compared this to Crouching Tiger? Just because it's martial arts based? I sometimes think people don't realize that Zhang Yimou didn't make Crouching Tiger.

[Edited on January 19, 2007 at 11:01 AM. Reason : I sorta love his work, sorry.]

1/19/2007 10:42:31 AM