April 14, 2005 - Two days after I started here at IGN, Peer handed me an import DVD from China to review. That DVD was Ying Xiong, better known as Hero here in the U.S. The movie has become one of my favorites, and left me wanting to see more out of director Zhang Yimou.

So how do you follow that? Yimou isn't backing down, he's going for grandiosity again with House of Flying Daggers, featuring China's "It" girl of the moment Ziyi Zhang, Hong Kong star Andy Lau and Japan's answer to Brad Pitt, Takeshi Kaneshiro.

Kaneshiro is quite the sensation in Asia. Part-Chinese (Taiwanese, to be exact) and part-Japanese, he's a model turned actor who speaks both of those languages plus English, and is a huge star in both Hong Kong and Japan. Judging by the reaction of female fans on message boards, he may break through here, too.

Like Hero, House of Flying Daggers is set in historical China, this time around the 9th century A.D. The corrupt Tang government is causing problems with the populace, and a secret society called the House of Flying Daggers is dedicated to opposing the government's activities.


An undercover cop named Jin (Kaneshiro) is sent to a luxurious brothel called Peony Palace to check out reports that a new dancer might be a member of the Flying Daggers. The new girl, Mei (Zhang), is blind. Jin acts like an ass and causes a disturbance, protecting his cover, and his partner Leo (Lau) moves in for one of the most memorable sequences in the film: he challenges Mei to the Echo Game, where the floor is surrounded by drums on poles. Each time he throws a single nut (or bean, I couldn't tell) at one of the drums, she has to hit the right drum with her lengthy silk sleeves.

The frequency increases until he throws the whole bowl, and she responds in kind with a tremendous dance. Then Mei blows her cover and is arrested. Jin sneaks into jail, breaks her out and the two escape.


All according to plan. The two head to the secret hideout for the House of Flying Daggers, but along the way, something funny happens -- Jin and Mei fall in love. So whose side is he on?

While Hero's battles told the story, the fight scenes in House of Flying Daggers are meant more for thrills and excitement. Some of them are tremendous, such as the fight in a bamboo field. But one problem is the fight scenes are too long. Total up all the battle scenes and it's the bulk of the movie, with the storytelling secondary. With shorter, tighter fight scenes, the movie could have gotten to the main points sooner.

Which leads to problem number two. With Hero, you had two very capable martial artists (Jet Li and Donnie Yen) who could put on a believable show. Zhang, Lau and Kaneshiro aren't martial artists. There's tons of obvious (and I do mean obvious) CG, fast cuts and tight shots compensating for the fact that these people aren't trained fighters. That's not a big demerit to the film, it's just that after Jackie Chan, Li and Yen raised the bar so high, those who fall short are exposed.


House of Flying Daggers shares Hero's exploding palette of colors. While Hero used filters, turning everything red, blue, white and green throughout its various versions of the tale, HoFD explodes with color, especially in Peony Palace. It just assaults your eyes. But there is a little Hero-like monochrome; the woods are a dense green and the finale takes place in a driving snowstorm.

The Japanese presence in a distinctly Chinese story is curious, and I don't just mean Kaneshiro. The composer of the soundtrack is Japanese (Shigeru Umebayashi) as is the costume designer (Emi Wada). I don't have a bone to pick with this, but it is interesting that two of the most distinctive cultural elements, music and clothing, were done by non-Chinese talent.


Unlike Hero, HoFD's finale is confusing and complicated, not to mention personal. Nameless made a decision for the good of the nation and all of its people. What happens with Mei, Jin and Leo (is that even a proper translation?) is muddled as a bunch of revelations come out at once and the three are all thinking of themselves.