The House of Flying Daggers

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Zhang Yimou's "response film" to Crouching Tiger! Predates Hero, finally brought over here, saw a sneak preview, and it was good! Better than Hero because there was more (semblance) of a plot, and not so much sensory-overload on the "Oooh pretty pretty" scenery stuff (though there's tonnes of that too).

I would've enjoyed it better if it weren't for the worst audience ever and especially Annoying Girl Behind Me making idiotic remarks. I wanted to blame the poor reception entirely on American culture vs. Chinese/Asian culture, but I remember an equally bad audience at a Coriolanus performance. So instead, BAD UNDERGRADS!

― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 05:46 (nineteen years ago) link

Crouching Tiger still beats this, though, because for my Americanized self I still hold to good/better plot/dialogue/characterization.

― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 05:52 (nineteen years ago) link

But BIG ups for using Chinese acrobats in one breathtaking scene!

Come on people, come anticipate!

― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 05:56 (nineteen years ago) link

It played at the four star about a year ago. It was pretty good.

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 05:58 (nineteen years ago) link

The Ratpure should have called the song this.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 06:16 (nineteen years ago) link

i was in the same theater as you, leeeee!!

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 06:25 (nineteen years ago) link

I think I may be unfairly biased towards this film for levels of Zhang Ziyi presence alone.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 14:04 (nineteen years ago) link

This film could have done with being about an hour shorter.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 14:09 (nineteen years ago) link

I AM DESPERATE TO SEE THIS MOVIE

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 14:36 (nineteen years ago) link

I, also, would like to see this movie.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 14:51 (nineteen years ago) link

Me too!

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 14:52 (nineteen years ago) link

Y'all ain't alone.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 15:09 (nineteen years ago) link

i own it. it's a cracker of a film. do not belive people saying it's too long. the sets are sumptuous, the use of colour captivating in a way i've never seen before. there's to much wirework in terms of the martial arts sequences, but that's just the way this particular strain of ultra-beautiful, super-crisp oriental cinema.

― stelfox, Wednesday, 1 December 2004 15:10 (nineteen years ago) link

The ending sequence in the snow alone could have been cut by an hour!

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 15:12 (nineteen years ago) link

We're not supposed to believe you.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 15:14 (nineteen years ago) link

it went on for about 10 minutes!

― stelfox, Wednesday, 1 December 2004 15:22 (nineteen years ago) link

Where did you sit, amateurist?

gygax!, how was the film received (and what was the you-know-what makeup of the audience)?

― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 22:59 (nineteen years ago) link

i dunno, i sat somewhere in the middle, between some friends

i don't really have an opinion to offer on the movie. i thought it was fun, and a little silly, and some of the visual bravado worked pretty good, some did not. same as "hero." but i saw "hero" under such different circumstances so i can't really compare beyond that

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 23:01 (nineteen years ago) link

gygax!, how was the film received (and what was the you-know-what makeup of the audience)?

haha, it was about 10-15% gwai lo if that's what you're asking. very well received. come back soon now leee.

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 2 December 2004 07:48 (nineteen years ago) link

Over here in Singapore where we've grown up with gongfu movies we mostly enjoyed it as a great comedy. Probably not what Zhang Yimou intended, though.

― syntaxfree (syntaxfree), Thursday, 2 December 2004 15:44 (nineteen years ago) link

three weeks pass...

spectacularly bad.

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 28 December 2004 18:01 (nineteen years ago) link

real good

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Tuesday, 28 December 2004 18:08 (nineteen years ago) link

Middle Class Parents Fu

― LSTD (answer) (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 28 December 2004 23:13 (nineteen years ago) link

real good

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Tuesday, 28 December 2004 23:17 (nineteen years ago) link

as bad as hero?

― cºzen (Cozen), Tuesday, 28 December 2004 23:26 (nineteen years ago) link

TREMENDOUSLY BAD

― vahid (vahid), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 01:23 (nineteen years ago) link

a solid pic

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 01:23 (nineteen years ago) link

There seems to be a difference of opinion.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 01:39 (nineteen years ago) link

much worse than hero, cozen

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 02:40 (nineteen years ago) link

slightly better I think

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 02:45 (nineteen years ago) link

great except for the drumming scene

― I'm serious ... Ti-i-i-i-im (deangulberry), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 02:47 (nineteen years ago) link

yeah, no one wants to see dave grohl in a catsuit

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 03:19 (nineteen years ago) link

shit except for the drumming scene

(i haven't seen it)

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 06:13 (nineteen years ago) link

very, very good.

― dan (dan), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 06:33 (nineteen years ago) link

not bad and with very good snow

― Tannenbaum Schmidt (Nik), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 06:47 (nineteen years ago) link

i could've done without the dance off.

― I'm serious ... Ti-i-i-i-im (deangulberry), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 07:07 (nineteen years ago) link

i saw it. i fell asleep. it looked very pretty though.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 08:56 (nineteen years ago) link

Couldn't be as bad as The Aviator .

― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 11:21 (nineteen years ago) link

I really enjoyed this; we had fun counting the ways it parallels and inverts "Carmen".

I liked "Hero" and "CTHD" more but I would still own this. The bamboo fight!!!

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 14:25 (nineteen years ago) link

Totally sucktacular.

SHE FUCKING DIES EIGHT BILLION TIMES IN THE LAST SCENE!
MORE FALSE ENDINGS THAN RETURN OF THE KING!
ANDY LAU - SURPRISE - IS THE BAD GUY!

It's a giant caricature of a martial arts film, and I hope that it's proof that the genre has already jumped the shark, bigtime. Basically, it seems that Zhang is really pissed that he didn't make Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, although making this piece of crap is hardly a winning counterblow.

I have a very sophomoric review of it here. I guess I was just on a total anger-fest straight back home after watching it, and a lot of it is silly, but nowhere near as silly as the film.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Wednesday, 29 December 2004 16:26 (nineteen years ago) link

Hire Quinten next time, asshole.

― LSTD (answer) (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 16:29 (nineteen years ago) link

8 billion = 3!

There's really only one false ending, isn't there? Anyway, contrast and compare it to "Carmen" and it becomes a lot more interesting.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 16:30 (nineteen years ago) link

No, there are so many points in that film where they had a good out, where they could have just faded out and it would be fine. It went on and on and on and on and on instead.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Wednesday, 29 December 2004 16:34 (nineteen years ago) link

it's a good film and i know more about this sort of stuff than most here.

― stelfox, Wednesday, 29 December 2004 16:38 (nineteen years ago) link

oh really? do go on...

― LSTD (answer) (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 16:41 (nineteen years ago) link

No, there are so many points in that film where they had a good out, where they could have just faded out and it would be fine. It went on and on and on and on and on instead.

Like where??? After the first echo game scene?

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 16:43 (nineteen years ago) link

All the leaving, the pauses, the race back to each other, the love scene, her first death scene, the second death scene, the mortal woundings, her leaving Lau, so on and so forth. I'm not at all willing to see this film again, so I can't recite chapter and verse, but I promise you that there were plenty of good places to stop beforehand. The final fight scene = totally unnecessary.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Wednesday, 29 December 2004 17:56 (nineteen years ago) link

oh cmon it was totally entertaining

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 17:59 (nineteen years ago) link

I can see a compelling argument for editing the pauses down to maybe 10 seconds or making them less static (ie, have them continue to move while playing the heartstrings music before they give in to passion and turn around) but chopping those out chops out the awesome crossfade (showing THEIR HEARTS ARE *NSYNC). All of the ending points you've listed make absolutely no sense, however; there's no resolution to the story until after that fight scene because one of the three central characters is left out in limbo with relation to the other two.

Calling that final fight scene scene unnecessary is kind of like calling the second half of "Top Gun" after Anthony Edwards' character dies unnecessary.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 18:39 (nineteen years ago) link

(stops offering free advice to jerry bruckheimer)

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 19:12 (nineteen years ago) link

RIP

― I'm serious ... Ti-i-i-i-im (deangulberry), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 19:19 (nineteen years ago) link

are you posting "RIP" to every thread?

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 19:23 (nineteen years ago) link

Actually a better example would be if "Funny Games" ended when the mother made it out to the road.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 19:27 (nineteen years ago) link

Amateurist RIP

― I'm serious ... Ti-i-i-i-im (deangulberry), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 19:36 (nineteen years ago) link

Nope, not buying it. Fuck, all these movies are about surpressed desire anyway, so what's the harm with leaving all three alive but one or two or even all three unsatisfied?

NO resolution whatsoever on the actual House; we simply assume that they were killed?

The movie is a frigging vacuum. I'm sorry that our tastes don't intersect on this film, but there's nothing that will convince me otherwise.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Wednesday, 29 December 2004 20:36 (nineteen years ago) link

dean: ?????

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 20:49 (nineteen years ago) link

Do I really have to bring up "Carmen" again?

Also, the movie wasn't at all about the House and was about the love story, ergo the complete abdication of the Flying Daggers storyline; they were a plot device to bring the three important characters into the final conflict.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 20:50 (nineteen years ago) link

Calling that final fight scene scene unnecessary is kind of like calling the second half of "Top Gun" after Anthony Edwards' character dies unnecessary.

I'd pick a better example myself, but then again all I remember about the film is planes taking off and landing.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 20:52 (nineteen years ago) link

amateurist: ?????

― I'm serious ... Ti-i-i-i-im (deangulberry), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 20:54 (nineteen years ago) link

Basically the entire movie is a cinematic opera, complete with opera's penchant for ignoring gigantic sections of the ueberstory in favor of a scene of conflict between the principals, dramatically unnecessary "arias" for supporting characters (see the scenes at the House headquarters with the leaders of the Daggers), over-the-top ensemble numbers for the chorus (all of the stuff with the soldiers) and a tableau finale dripping with pathos and regret that doesn't want to end until the prima donna bites it and her main paramour gives a primal wail.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 20:57 (nineteen years ago) link

Mei RIP

― Leon the Fratboy (Ex Leon), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 21:01 (nineteen years ago) link

I want Dan to describe Top Gun as an opera now (no, really!).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 21:03 (nineteen years ago) link

G, I will admit that the movie must have failed for you if you couldn't let go of the Flying Daggers story in favor of the love triangle story, but really the whole thing worked for me.

(xpost "Top Gun" as an opera? A nation turns its back and gags...)

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 21:04 (nineteen years ago) link

C'mon, they're making Karate Kid into a musical, bring on Kathryn Battle singing "Take My Breath Away" in Italian.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 21:06 (nineteen years ago) link

Hahahaha Ned have you seen "House Of Flying Daggers"???? KB sings the theme song (reinforcing my "this is a cinematic opera" theory)!

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 21:07 (nineteen years ago) link

HA! I just pulled a name out of thin air, that's hilarious. I do hope to see it at some point here -- I figure this, Hero being as gorgeous as it was on the big screen, this surely must be equally so.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 21:09 (nineteen years ago) link

Sur le ramparts de Sevilla, chez mon amis Goose et Mav'rick.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 21:10 (nineteen years ago) link

(altho it's Kathleen, not Kathryn)

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 21:11 (nineteen years ago) link

Bah, I knew I got something in her name wrong. But now I R educated on the point.

Jocelyn, I believe, has a vision. How do the lyrics to "Danger Zone" sound in German?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 21:11 (nineteen years ago) link

Once you have seen Ong Bak, movies like Crouching Tiger and Hero can't even be thought of without saying, SHIT, PURE SHIT.

― shiori, Thursday, 30 December 2004 06:12 (nineteen years ago) link

ihttp://mail01.mail.com/scripts/mail/getattch.mail?folder=INBOX&msg_uid=1104201378&partsno=0

― rabbit is rich, Thursday, 30 December 2004 09:38 (nineteen years ago) link

And that's all you need to know

― The Agenda, Thursday, 30 December 2004 09:41 (nineteen years ago) link

Yeah-

― Ima Dick, Thursday, 30 December 2004 09:43 (nineteen years ago) link

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/catchindrains/Chenneppah.bmp

damn

― Glene peterson, Thursday, 30 December 2004 09:45 (nineteen years ago) link

Nice pic Glene!

― James Jackson, Thursday, 30 December 2004 09:46 (nineteen years ago) link

There are many ways to tie a Karate belt. What most Karate instructors agree on is as follows:

1 The belt shall sit above the hip bones and shall be tied firmly, so that it doesn't loosen or come off during the training session.

2 The ends of the belt shall be of equal length, with both ends of the belt exiting the knot downwards. This reduces the chances of the belt to interfere with any movement or your hands or fingers getting caught in it.

3 Do not let the belt cross itself at the back.

― karate kid, Thursday, 30 December 2004 09:52 (nineteen years ago) link

does anyone else sing the title in their head to the tune of the rapture song?

― Shmool McShmool (shmuel), Thursday, 30 December 2004 11:32 (nineteen years ago) link

The Ratpure should have called the song this.

-- Ned Raggett (ne...), December 1st, 2004.

;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 30 December 2004 13:29 (nineteen years ago) link

crouching tiger was a really good film. i'm tired of people using the "real" east asian films (the "real" kung fu films, the "real" wu xia pian, the "real" action movies) as a stick with which to beat ang lee's film. the virtues of lee's film aren't the same as those of other films that it pays homage to (or is reminiscent of), but that's ok.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 30 December 2004 13:53 (nineteen years ago) link

and

does anyone else sing the title in their head to the tune of the rapture song?

yes! too bad it wasn't used over the closing credits.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 30 December 2004 13:54 (nineteen years ago) link

crouching tiger was a really good film.
Crouching Tiger is NOT a really good film. You don't need to know anything else about films in general or aAsian films in particular to know this. Raise the Red Lantern, Tampopo, Ong Bak, The Untold Story are just a few Asian gems that put Crouching Tiger in its rightful place in Asian cinema.... absolutely nowhere.

― kabukicho jones, Thursday, 30 December 2004 20:27 (nineteen years ago) link

Yeah, but what if people liked it anyway?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 30 December 2004 20:29 (nineteen years ago) link

Raise The Red Lantern is a little overrated. I'd like to see Crouching Tiger again.

― .adam (nordicskilla), Thursday, 30 December 2004 20:29 (nineteen years ago) link

Hero, Crouching Tiger, and House of Flying Daggers are all very good films.

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Thursday, 30 December 2004 20:32 (nineteen years ago) link

Crouching Tiger is NOT a really good film. You don't need to know anything else about films in general or aAsian films in particular to know this. Raise the Red Lantern, Tampopo, Ong Bak, The Untold Story are just a few Asian gems that put Crouching Tiger in its rightful place in Asian cinema.... absolutely nowhere.
-- kabukicho jones (hinodech...) (webmail), December 30th, 2004 8:27 PM. (link)

this post seems a little self-contradictory to me...

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 30 December 2004 20:33 (nineteen years ago) link

Not as good as Iron Monkey, Drunken Master II, The Blade, Once Upon a Time In China I-III, and some others, but good nonetheless.

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Thursday, 30 December 2004 20:33 (nineteen years ago) link

nothing is as good as the blade

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 30 December 2004 20:34 (nineteen years ago) link

What about The Blade III: Trinity?

― n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 30 December 2004 20:36 (nineteen years ago) link

I hear it's got an awesome scene where Parker Posey gets impaled.

― n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 30 December 2004 20:36 (nineteen years ago) link

that reminds me that my mom used to have a habit of adding articles to things that didn't have them.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 30 December 2004 20:59 (nineteen years ago) link

two weeks pass...

The Ratpure should have called the song this.
-- Ned Raggett (ne...), December 1st, 2004.

The Ratpure? never heard of them.

― Shmool McShmool (shmuel), Friday, 14 January 2005 08:58 (nineteen years ago) link

complaing about kung fu movies having unrealistic plots is kinda pointless.

― Shmool McShmool (shmuel), Friday, 14 January 2005 09:00 (nineteen years ago) link

though when she came back to life, it reminded me of the onion article about archduke ferdinand being found alive in 1918, and WWI consequently being over.

― Shmool McShmool (shmuel), Friday, 14 January 2005 09:01 (nineteen years ago) link

two months pass...

This film appears to be a diverting and beautiful (the bamboo scene alone was worth the price of entry) method of convincing me that opera is not my thing.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Saturday, 19 March 2005 23:22 (nineteen years ago) link

i loved this movie. even the fake death kind of ties in to what is going on in the rest of the movie.

― ryan (ryan), Saturday, 19 March 2005 23:30 (nineteen years ago) link

one year passes...

I thoroughly enjoyed it. The colors were amazing (as others have said). I guess you could say one weakness is the way the love story is so central and yet so undeveloped, and to me, not too convincing. I'm not sure it really was all about the love story. I think it was all about the uncertainty about who knew what about whom, who was acting, who was in control of the situation, etc. The love story almost seems to exist to further that focus. The official outfits for House of Flying Daggers members were awesome, and I wish there had been even more flying daggers.

― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Sunday, 10 September 2006 05:06 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.ifrance.com/hkcinemagic/images7/house_of_flying_daggers4.jpg

― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Sunday, 10 September 2006 05:14 (seventeen years ago) link

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