In the sense that absolutes provide comfort from the ambiguities of daily life, this film is ideal entertainment.  There are absolute enemies, heroes and of course, absolute love.  Yimou Zhang, the director of Hero (2002), brings us another martial arts film, however this screenplay, unlike the dispassionate and epochal Hero, is up-close and personal.

The lead-in setup in text tells us that the Tang dynasty, circa 859 AD, is in decline and corrupt.  However they have a strong military.  An underground movement forms into the insurgent House of Flying Daggers.  The story begins with spying and intrigue and moves on through conflict and a love affair. 

We've come to expect impossible flying sword fights in martial arts films and they are provided.  These special effects as well as the impossible, but visually amazing, trajectory of weapons are part of the genre.  But the genius of this film is that all of this falls to insignificance in the face of the intense relationship between three people.

Another absolute in this film is the spectacular scenery: bamboo forests, overgrown meadows, vast fields of wild flowers and the forest colors of autumn that transform into the white beauty of winter in a symbolic parallelism with the storyline.

It's not a complicated plot line even considering the intrigue.  But it is unusual that the initial problem/conflict driving the storyline has no direct relationship to the final problem/conflict that forces us to the climax.  That transition raises this from run-of-the-mill cartoon martial arts to a story of intense emotional quality.

The T'ang Dynasty existed from 618-907 AD when it collapsed into anarchy.  It was a golden age for culture in China.  Art, music, sculpture and in particular poetry flourished and Chinese culture during this period greatly influenced Japan.  As in Hero, Zhang has integrated this story with the past and created historical fiction.

Reviewed June 12, 2005                            Copyright 2005 Charles T. Markee

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for sequences of stylized martial arts violence, and some sexuality.