7tavern: Shi mian mai fu

Shi mian mai fu

Sound (3)
2.9
Plot (3)
2.8
Cast (3)
2.9
Special Effects (3)
3.1
Length & Pace (3)
2.9
Cinematography (3)
3.1

Directors: Yimou Zhang

Writers: Feng Li (writer),Bin Wang (writer)

Release: 14 January 2005 (USA)

Plot: A romantic police captain breaks a beautiful member of a rebel group out of prison to help her rejoin her fellows, but things are not what they seem.

Cast: Takeshi Kaneshiro - Jin, Andy Lau - Leo, Ziyi Zhang - Xiao Mei (as Zhang Ziyi), Dandan Song - Yee, Hongfei Zhao - Performer, Jun Guo - Performer, Shu Zhang - Performer, Jiusheng Wang - Performer, Zhengyong Zhang - Performer, Yongxin Wang - Performer, Dong Liu - Performer, Qi Zi - Performer, Xuedong Qu - Performer, Liping Tian - Performer, Hongwei Zhao - Performer

Runtime: 119 min | Australia:118 min

Country: China

Language: Mandarin

Company: Beijing New Picture Film Co.

Links: IMDb Profile

Categories: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Romance

Main

Trailer

Squish
Reviews: 740
Points: 0 (Level 1)
Reviewer

Sound:
Plot:
Cast:
Special Effects:
Length & Pace:
Cinematography:

2.5

House of Flying Daggers (2004)

Sorry, I see nothing funny about bathing

Genre: Action Adventure Drama Fantasy Romance (China)

Starring: Takeshi Kaneshiro (Chungking Express), Ziyi Zhang (Memoirs Of A Geisha; 2046)

Directed By: Yimou Zhang (Raise The Red Lantern; Hero)

Overview: A man seduces a woman in hopes that she will lead him to the head of the House of Flying Daggers gang, so that he may end their reign.

Performance:

The acting is melodramatic, but this is standard in this sort of film, and it really wasn't distracting. There was nothing spectacular here, but it was good overall.
Rating: 7

Cinematography:

The cinematography was grand and panoramic, as expected, but I honestly felt that there should be more. The ultra-green scenes in the bamboo forest and the fall field turning to snow was fantastic, but there was something missing in the beginning. Maybe it was lenses and filters, but it weren't no Hero.
Rating: 8

Script:

The translation I watched was horrible and tacky. In all fairness the version I saw was intended for Chinese audiences, and maybe the American theater version is better written, and let's hope so, because I found myself laughing at the casual, matter-of-fact way Andy said the line "I was tortured." When you laugh at seriousness, it's not good. Also, throughout, I was thinking, 'Ok, ok, get on with it, this dialogue is predictable.' With such lines as "If I can't have her, nobody can," what else do you want?
Rating: 5

Plot:

The guy finds her, infiltrates her, she leads him towards her secret, then he scuttles off to have a secret meeting, meant of course to let the audience know that this was the plan all along, but then another twist, and some danger thrown in, though in all likelihood, preventable. Twist reveals predictable twist and in the end there's but a hint of a surprise. Continuity was barely above par.
Rating: 6

Mood:

The mood in this film, as with all others is the thing that these directors and actors and cameramen work so hard to produce, and of course it succeeded. This is up there with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for it's romantic yet heart-wrenching attempt. Good, and the score helped too.
Rating: 8

It sucks cause every time you visit, you get stabbed in the face. - E. Reid

Overall Rating: 68% (Off By A Sliver)

Aftertaste:
Half way through I said "House of Flying Clichés". The friend I had over laughed in agreement. We didn't really take this movie too seriously. The fighting was good, but not great, the story was typical and without punch, the characters were fairly two dimensional in their view and in their actions. This film will fade as one of the over-hyped Wire films of the last few years. I know lots of people will be disappointed, because they all expect Hero. Well heros don't fade so quickly from the mind as this movie will.

Recommendations: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009), Requiem for a Dream, Dawn of the Dead

2010-05-19 00:29:07

eternality_tan
Reviews: 159
Points: 0 (Level 1)
Reviewer

Sound:
Plot:
Cast:
Special Effects:
Length & Pace:
Cinematography:

3.8

3.3

3.6

4.3

3.6

4.4

House of Flying Daggers (Zhang Yimou, 2004)

THE SCOOP
Director: Zhang Yimou
Plot: A romantic police captain breaks a beautiful member of a rebel group out of prison to help her rejoin her fellows, but things are not what they seem.

Genre: Action/Adventure/Drama/Fantasy/Romance
Awards: Nom. for 1 Oscar - best cinematography
Runtime: 119min
Rating: NC16 for sequences of stylized martial arts violence, and some sexuality.

IN RETROSPECT

The second of Zhang Yimou’s unofficial martial arts trilogy, House Of Flying Daggers is without question a better film than Hero (2002) and Curse Of The Golden Flower (2006). Starring Zhang Ziyi, Andy Lau, and Takeshi Kaneshiro, the film tells the story of a rescue mission to save a blind woman held under captivity whom is supposedly part of the ‘Flying Daggers’ clan. As the film progresses, what seems like a conventional play of run-and-hide after the plan worked becomes a complex situation of double-crosses, loyalty and betrayal, love and tragedy. There is even a hint of a looming war between the highly-skilled ‘Flying Daggers’ and their enemy, a massive army commanded by an uncompromising General.

The war never materialized on screen which is a bit of a disappointment, anti-climatic even. But I salute Zhang for not pursuing a pointless, epic battle which would have made the core of the story – the love triangle as played by the three leads – become insignificant by comparison. Stripped of its marital arts, House Of Flying Daggers is a convincing drama-cum-tragedy. At the emotional level, this film manages to succeed where Hero and, to a certain extent, Curse Of The Golden Flower have failed.

House Of Flying Daggers combines style and substance with aplomb, a considerable improvement over Hero, which apart from its splendid visual poetry is rather empty narrative-wise. The most remarkable sequence filmed is the fight in the bamboo forest. Zhang’s mastery of cinematography is in full force here; he lets natural light shine through the trees, giving the scenes an exquisite balance of light and shadow and using it as a beautiful backdrop for some amazingly choreographed acrobatic fights enhanced by visual effects. In another fight scene lasting only more than a couple of minutes, the characters battle their way through the seasons – from summer to snow – reminding us of the ability of cinema to alter the time-space construct.

The mournful but lovely music by Shigeru Umebayashi adds another layer of emotion to the narrative. It grows in resonance toward the end in which it deliberately attempts to manipulate viewers into tearing. However, the film is never uncomfortable to reveal its sentimentalism. Such is Zhang’s preoccupation with the tragic tale of forbidden love that it becomes the focal point of the film. The performances are generally good, no one outstanding in particular though. House Of Flying Daggers may lack the colorful vibrancy of Hero, the Shakespearean epicness of Curse Of The Golden Flower, or the powerful socialistic, cultural and political themes that characterized his best works such as Raise The Red Lantern (1991), and To Live (1994), but it remains perhaps one of, if not the best Zhang film of the decade.

SCORE: 8/10
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Recommendations: Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich, 2010), To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan, 1962), The Visitor

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Last updated: 2010-04-09 08:03:40 by eternality_tan

2010-04-09 08:02:57

Squish
Reviews: 740
Points: 0 (Level 1)
Reviewer

House of Flying Daggers (2004)

Sorry, I see nothing funny about bathing Genre: Action Adventure Drama Fantasy Romance (China) Starring: Takeshi Kaneshiro (Chungking Express), Ziyi Zhang (Memoirs Of A Geisha; 2046) Directed By: Yimou Zhang (Raise The Red Lantern; Hero) Overview: A man seduces a woman in hopes that she will lead him to the head of the House of Flying Daggers gang, so that he may end their reign. Performance: The acting is melodramatic, but this is standard in this sort of film, and it really wasn't distracting. There was nothing spectacular here, but it was good overall. Rating: 7 Cinematography: The cinematography was grand and panoramic, as expected, but I honestly felt that there should be more. The ultra-green scenes in the bamboo forest and the fall field turning to snow was fantastic, but there was something missing in the beginning. Maybe it was lenses and filters, but it weren't no Hero. Rating: 8 Script: The translation I watched was horrible and tacky. In all fairness the...

(Read More...)

2010-05-19 00:29:07

eternality_tan
Reviews: 159
Points: 0 (Level 1)
Reviewer

House of Flying Daggers (Zhang Yimou, 2004)

THE SCOOP Director: Zhang Yimou Plot: A romantic police captain breaks a beautiful member of a rebel group out of prison to help her rejoin her fellows, but things are not what they seem. Genre: Action/Adventure/Drama/Fantasy/Romance Awards: Nom. for 1 Oscar - best cinematography Runtime: 119min Rating: NC16 for sequences of stylized martial arts violence, and some sexuality. IN RETROSPECT The second of Zhang Yimou’s unofficial martial arts trilogy, House Of Flying Daggers is without question a better film than Hero (2002) and Curse Of The Golden Flower (2006). Starring Zhang Ziyi, Andy Lau, and Takeshi Kaneshiro, the film tells the story of a rescue mission to save a blind woman held under captivity whom is supposedly part of the ‘Flying Daggers’ clan. As the film progresses, what seems like a conventional play of run-and-hide after the plan worked becomes a complex situation of double-crosses, loyalty and betrayal, love and...

(Read More...)

2010-04-09 08:02:57

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