House of Flying Daggers was released in the US hot on the heels of Hero, also directed by Yimou Zhang. I didn't care much for Hero and I liked House of Flying Daggers even less. Both movies contain good visual images, good locations, good sets, and good costumes. What went wrong? The main flaw in House just like Hero was the action sequences, which take the intrinsically absurd action of wire-fu and amp it up to preposterous proportions. When done right like in Crouching Tiger or in some of Jackie Chan's movies I love it. But Zhang makes his heroes so super-human that my mind balks when trying to suspend my disbelief. How can you feel any danger for them during their fight sequences? You know they will only get injured if the story requires it and not because fighting carries an element of risk. I've only seen two of Zhang's movies but my impression so far is that his films feel one dimensional. Scene after scene depicts astonishing natural beauty (forests, mountains, snowy field, etc.) containing a character overcome with the sorrow of the human condition. It's like a broken record. But by one-dimensional I don't mean he's a one-trick-pony. I mean something more damning: instead of turning a good story into a gripping and involving drama that moves, he turns it into a single-watch melodrama that leaves you wondering what could have been.
Review of House of Flying Daggers
