House of Flying Daggers

Hero director Zhang Yimou returns to the swordfighting genre with this visually ravishing and artfully directed martial arts drama. In the year 859, the declining Tang dynasty faces revolt from a secret, "Robin Hood and his Merry Men"-like society known as the House of Flying Daggers. Can all-singing, all-dancing, blind knife-throwing showgirl Mei (Zhang Ziyi) guide undercover policeman Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro) to their mysterious new leader? The film's stand-out sequences include the quite amazing "Echo Dance" - a routine involving scarves, drums and ricocheting beans - and a lush green bamboo-forest showdown. But these early highlights are never quite equalled, as too many drawn-out climaxes and a tepid romantic subplot proceed to bog it down. However, Zhang Yimou's masterful panache, poetic finesse and gravity-bending fight choreography are a continual delight, even if Zhang Ziyi's acrobatic femme fatale steals the entire show.