I saw House of Flying Daggers for the first time on the plane from New York to Amsterdam if I remember correctly. It didn’t impress me that much back then probably because I was pretty tired, the sound sucked and the screen was too small ;). Now almost two years later I saw it on my own Home Cinema and it impressed me much more this time. The director Zhang Yimou, probably best known for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon also made Hero a few years ago which I like alot and own on dvd.

The story is set in a similar time setting in ancient China as Hero and is about a triangle relationship between a guy from the government and a guy and a girl from a rebellion group called House of Flying Daggers. It’s packed with very nice action and the cinematography, although not as impressive as in ‘Hero’, is still top-of-the-line and a lot better than what you generally see in Hollywood. The only drawback is the plot. Where Hero has a powerful minimalistic plot, House of Flying Daggers isn’t as entertaining. There are lots of turns and twists, but it just doesn’t quite seem to deliver and seems to go on for a bit too long. All in all this was a very nice martial arts films keeping Zhang Yimou on my director’s top list. My rating: 7.5/10.