House of Flying Daggers

Cast

Takeshi Kaneshiro as Jin
Andy Lau as Leo
Zhang ZiYi as Mei
Song Dandan as Yee

Summary

"House of Flying Daggers" is yet another wuxia/period blockbuster directed by the highly acclaimed Zhang Zimou (also director of "Hero"). This film was also released to an international wide audience in an attempt to ride on the wave of the recent success of wuxia/period films generated by the popularity of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" in 2000.

The film is set in 859 AD, where China's once flourishing "Golden Age" during the Tang Dynasty is in rapid decline. A corrupted government is certain to generate unrest and uprising among the peasants. Many rebel groups are formed and engaged in battle with the government. Amongst these is a clan called "House of Flying Daggers", both feared and praised for their heroic deeds. They are growing in power by the day and represent the greatest challenge to the government.

The film opens with Leo (played by Andy Lau) a captain of the imperial guard and his subordinate, Jin (played by Takeshi Kaneshiro) engaging in a friendly conversation. Leo has just received an imperial order to arrest the leader of the "House of Flying Daggers" within ten days. Jin immediately complains, stating that it had taken their imperial guards almost a year to track down and eliminate the previous leader. Strong and sturdy as a leader, Leo states that orders are orders. He then sends Jin on an undercover mission to check out the newly opened brothel, the "Peony Pavilion", suspecting that the lead dancer has strong connections to the "House of Flying Daggers". Being a womaniser, Jin agrees with a smile.

Following Leo's plans, Jin disguises himself as a rich merchant. He is entertained by more than his fair share of women, before demanding the company of the brothel's leading dancer, stating that he has a limitless amount of money. The Madame of the brothel, Yee (played by Song Dandan), agrees but informs Jin that the dancer is blind. Jin does not really believe that the lead dancer, Mei (played by Zhang ZiYi), is actually blind. So he does a number of things to unsettle her, like ripping her clothes off and even attempting to rape her at the end of her dance routine. Yee tells Jin to stop, but Jin just continues to behave wildly whilst ripping off as much of Mei's clothes as he can.

Before Jin succeeds in rapping Mei, Leo and his imperial guards enter the brothel. He immediately tells Jin to stop, and appears to be unimpressed with his attempts to uncover whether Mei is really blind or not. They exchange a quick glance before Jin is arrested by the imperial guards and is taken outside. Leo then attempts to use more conventional methods to test whether Mei is really blind. They play a game of "echo". Leo fires a peanut at a drum and Mei is required to guess the correct drum. Regardless of what Leo did, Mei was able to guess which drum each peanut hit and in which order, proving that she has remarkable hearing. At the height of the game, Mei uses her cloth lance to pick up a sword from the table before attempting to assassinate Leo. How a blind person could see a sword on the table is truly a remarkable skill. Leo appears to be shocked as he picks up his sword with a smile. They exchange several heated stances with Leo clearly being on top. He plays with Mei for a short while, almost drowning her in the pond, before finally arresting her.

Mei is thrown in prison while Leo and Jin discuss their next move. Jin, a casual and simple man, wants to turn Mei in to claim a reward. Leo has other plans. He wants to use Mei as bait to capture the leader of the "House of Flying Daggers". Jin reluctantly agrees to go along with the plan. Leo then acts as the "bad" imperial guard threatening to use the torture machine to get Mei to reveal the whereabouts of her leader. Later that evening, Jin under the alias name of "Wind" sets out and rescues Mei. He then agrees to escort Mei back to the headquarters of the "House of Flying Daggers". Mei informs Jin to head north and that her people would contact her. Jin agrees.

That day Mei is attacked by four imperial guards whilst Jin was away looking for her flying daggers that had fallen on the ground. Jin immediately recognises those four guards as his comrades, and fires four arrows at them. Upon being struck, the four guards fall over and play dead to deceive Mei, forgetting, however, that a blind person could still hear a person's heartbeat and breathing. Mei had fallen into a puddle of mud during the skirmish. She decided to take a bath by a small pond. Jin states that he is a gentleman, and thus used a metal gong to indicate where he was, in order to give Mei some privacy. But in truth, Jin, was a pervert at heart, and had tied the gong to a tree with a squirrel to make some noise. He had stayed by Mei's side and watched her bathe naked.

Just when Jin was about to sneak away, Mei called out to him and asked if he had enough of watching her bathe naked and if so to hand her some clothes. A little shocked, Jin walked over and retrieved Mei's clothes, thinking that she had heard his footsteps and thus could tell that he had not gone far. Then another thought crossed, Jin's mind. It was obvious to him that Mei had allowed him to watch her bathe all this time. Mei confirmed his guesses by stating that she did not mind the man who had saved her life watching her bathe. Jin went on to state that Mei should finally understand why his name is "Wind", as in carefree. As their eyes met, Jin and Mei could not longer resist the temptation to kiss passionately and roll along the ground a few times. Sensing that someone was watching close by, Mei decides to stop Jin from kissing her and going all the way. To that Jin said Mei was cold.

Later that evening, Jin snuck off while Mei was sleeping to provide an update to his superior, Leo. He had been watching them grovel in the forest and reminds Jin to keep his mind on their mission. Jin states that he is a womaniser by nature and did not really seem to heed Leo's advice. Once again, Leo reminds Jin of his mission and advises that he?ll back off the next day and order his men to give them space to lure the leader of the "House of Flying Daggers" out.

The next day, Jin and Mei pass through a flower field. Despite being blind Mei loves the flowers. So Jin rides on his horse around the flower field and selects a bunch of the prettiest flowers to give to Mei. Moments later they embrace. But Jin's happiness is short-lived as a platoon of imperial guards approach them slowly. Having succeeded in winning Mei's heart, Jin was annoyed by their presence. Thinking that they were his comrades, Jin winks at them and signals them to go away so he can have a romp in the flower field with Mei. But strangely the guards do not recognise Jin and actually attack him. Taken by surprise Jin received a minor flesh wound to leg and but manages give yell.

This prompts Mei into action as she immediately uses her flying daggers to kill two imperial guards. Upset that he had been injured, Jin uses his arrows and shoots to kill. He brings down in total around four imperial guards before running out of arrows. Mei and Jin are then surrounded. They would have been captured and killed had someone not saved them in the wilderness with a shower of flying daggers. Jin immediately suspects that someone from the "House of Flying Daggers" is nearby. But Mei advises Jin that their mysterious saviour is not from the "House of Flying Daggers" upon examining the projectiles.

That evening, Jin sneaks off once more to meet up with Leo. He is advised that the General has been informed of their plot and has sent additional men in pursuit of Jin and Mei to make it look more real. The General's officers do not know that Jin is working undercover and thus would kill him without knowing. Jin is most displeased upon hearing of the latest news. Fearing for his own life, Jin tells Leo that he has had enough, and will no longer go on with the plan. With that he leaves, refusing to take a quiver of arrows from Leo. When Jin returns by Mei's side, she tells him to leave also, stating that he had done enough. She also added that Jin was not sincere enough in his love for her, and as such should not stay around. Mei was certain that she could survive alone. With that Mei mounted a horse and rode off by herself, despite being blind. Jin watched her leave, a little relieved. For he no longer wanted to get involved.

Along the journey, Mei was attacked by a band of imperial guards on horseback. Luckily for Mei, Jin had a change of heart and decided to pursue after her. With Jin's help and the help of her mysterious saviour, Mei was able to escape once more. When Jin returned, Mei was certain that Jin had loved her for real and was thus glad that he had arrived to save her. This eliminated all doubts in her mind. But before they had a chance to collect themselves, more imperial guards appeared. They ran in the direction of the bamboo forest. At their darkest moment, a shower of flying daggers saved their lives. All of the imperial guards were killed in the process. Jin and Mei had been saved by the Madame of the Peony Parlour, Yee, who claims to be the leader of the "House of Flying Daggers".

Once the formalities are over, and a fake marriage proposal, Jin is finally captured by Yee. Apparently Jin's cover had been blown as Leo had also been captured. Jin is further shocked, perhaps at his own lack of intelligence, when he discovers that Mei is one of many servants of the "House of Flying Daggers". She is not really the former leader's daughter and she is not blind. He falls into a state of disbelief, while he watches Leo being dragged out for a certain execution by Yee. Leo appears to be sad and walks with his head down upon being captured. Surely his mission has failed and will be executed. His face is gloomy as he faces certain death alone, with his body left for maggots.

But instead of killing him, Yee actually unbinds Leos hands and sets him free. It is revealed that Leo is actually a senior member of the "House of Flying Daggers" working undercover as an imperial guard. He is looking rather gloomy as has to recount one last time to Yee how he failed to protect the former leader from being assassinated. He feels deeply shamed because of it. But Yee advises Leo that no one blames him. Yee also congratulates Leo for being able to come up with the devious plot to trick the General, who'll bring the soldiers to the forest to meet an untimely death. She then instructs Leo to return to the capital and continue to be inside man for the "House of Flying Daggers".

But Leo protests, stating that it has been three years since he has seen and spent time alone with his fiance, Mei. It had been a plot all along, with Jin being the fool. Mei was deliberately flirting with Jin, just as Jin had been trying to flirt with Mei, in a dangerous game of cat and mouse. Mei and Leo had in fact been engaged for many years and were actually lovers. That was why Leo followed Jin and Mei, using his flying daggers to save them on a couple of occasions. Yee then summons for Mei to attend to Leo. She then leaves to give the two lovers much needed privacy to catch up on old times. When Mei arrives, she is happy to see Leo. They immediately play a game of echo. This time Mei throws the stones towards the bamboo stick. Blind-folded Leo uses his flying daggers to strike the bamboo the rock had struck. Leo hits them with deadly precision.

Leo and Mei then exchange passionate kisses and roll along the ground. But at the peak of their kissing, Mei places a hand over Leo's mouth. It was obvious to Leo that Mei's heart was with someone else. This upsets Leo. He advises Mei that there's no future for her with Jin. Mei initially seems to head the advice as Leo begins kissing her again. But Mei pulls back her head. This angers Leo further. He had been a very faithful man for the past three years, so was waiting for this moment to be alone with her. How could she reject his sexual passion now? So Leo forces himself on Mei and begins ripping her clothes, like Jin did to her at the beginning.

Just when it appeared that Leo was going to be successful in raping Mei, he is struck over the right shoulder with a flying dagger. Yee had returned with apparently the real leader of the "House of the Flying Daggers". But Yee does all the talking. She advises Leo that a woman cannot be forced to do things against their will. Leo nods to acknowledge Yee. Thought he had been struck in the shoulder with a flying dagger, it was his heart that hurt the most as a stream of tears flooded down his face whilst looking at Mei in total disbelief. Leo then leaves for the capital stating that he could not believe how the bond of lover over a period of three years could be broken in just three days. He stumbles away, a depressed and defeated man.

Yee then instructs Mei to kill Jin. But instead of killing Jin, Mei decides to free him. Jin then asks Mei to leave with him, retire from wulin, and live a secluded life--be free like the wind. But Mei declines. Jin is disappointed as he rides off into the distance. Jin was certain that Mei would chase after him, sooner or later. So he waited for her at the edge of the forest. Mei waited, and waited. It was almost dusk, before she decided to take a horse and ride after Jin. When Mei reached the forest flying dagger approached her. So she used the blade of the sword to deflect it. But to her surprise, it wasn't just one dagger that had attacked her. It was two daggers joined together as one, like the bond of love. She was able to deflect one of the daggers, but the second one pierced through her heart as she tumbled off the horse. Leo had been hiding in the forest to see if Mei would actually follow Jin. Leo loved Mei deeply. So he worked on the philosophy that if he could not obtain Mei's love then no one can.

When Jin rides back in the direction he came, he found Mei laying on the ground. Mei then warns Jin of the danger by telling him to turn around. As he did so Leo attacked him from behind. Realising that it was Leo who injured Mei, Jin fought with all his heart hoping to avenge her death. The two battle from day to night. It snowed heavily as they fought to a standstill. At the peak of their battle, Leo had the advantage. Using the flying dagger that had struck him in the back, he threatened to launch it towards Jin and take his life. But Mei who everyone assumed must be dead by now, suddenly woke up, despite being trapped in the freeing cold for hours and hours. She threatened to pull out the flying dagger lodge in her heart to kill Leo and save Jin. It was a tense stand-off that lasted for around five minutes as everyone tried to collect themselves. Finally Jin dropped his sword and walked towards Leo with open arms. Daring him to fire the his flying dagger towards him and end his life. This would apparently save Mei who has a dagger lodged deep in her heart. Jin's actions only angered Leo. But he hesitated not wanting to act rashly.

Did Mei actually love him? Would Mei actually kill him? Does Mei actually know him? These were the thoughts running through Leo's mind. Finally Leo made a decision. He appeared to have fired his flying dagger towards Jin. Mei immediately pulled out her flying dagger to save Jin. This caused her to bleed endlessly. The flying dagger released by Mei would have protected Jin's life as it speed past his neck to block an incoming blow. Sadly for Mei, she had underestimated Leo. He had stood all this time with the flying dagger in his grasp. He fired nothing at Jin. All he wanted to do was test whether Mei would actually risk her own life to save Jin or whether she loves Jin enough that she would actually killed him. Leo's questions had now been answered. Mei loved her enough that she would not kill him, but at the same time would risk her life to save Jin. At this point Leo could have used his flying dagger to kill Jin. But seeing how Mei had sacrificed her life, Leo decided to leave the scene. Leaving Jin to mourn over Mei's death.

Rating: 1.5/5

I have watched a lot of wuxia/period films of my time and this film fails miserably to attract my attention. Before watching this flim, I had not read a single review, and thus watched it with an open mind. I had no real expectations. But I was sickened by the sloppy work at the end of it.

Firstly, Leo using the game of echo to test whether an open-eyed girl is blind is flawed. Without blind folding the girl, of course they'll be able to hit the drum that the peanut landed on. It would have looked more realistic if they had blind-folded Zhang ZiYi for that scene. By blind-folding someone you at least remove all possibilities that they can actually see. Secondly, how does a blind girl know that a sword is placed next to Leo on the table? Thirdly how does a blind girl navigate on a stolen horse? It's like a blind man driving. Ever seen it? So it was plainly obvious from watching a couple of scenes that the character of Mei was pretending to be blind. It removes all suspense in her character as a result.

The plot and script is very thin, and I am surprised that it actually lasted for two hours. It's like scrapping the last bit of butter over two slices of bread. The story basically boils down to two people flirting with each other, trying to capture the other's heart and using them as pawns in a dangerous game of cat and mouse, and who actually end up loving each other. So that triggers a number of cliches. Fake love turns to real love. The faithful man pins all his hopes on unfaithful woman. And so the list goes on?

I hated the character of Jin and the character of Mei. Not to mention that they are not well developed. Jin is supposed to be a carefree playboy but falls for a woman within three days and would risk his life to die for her. It is very remarkable, though admittedly honourable turnaround indeed. But the plot does not fare well for females out there. I mean you basically have a woman who has a lover, and his engaged, is left alone for three days, would actually fall for another man. If it's because he saved her life that would be understandable. However, we learn that Leo had saved her life on numerous occasions. So three years versus three days. How fragile is a woman's love? That's the question most men would be asking upon seeing this movie. The ending is absolutely ridiculous. There's really no suspense to that scene. For everyone knew Mei would end up dying. It was predictable that Jin would be willing up to sacrifice his life. Even more predictable that Leo wasn't even going to kill Jin.

That's why I am glad that they released this movie under the title of "House of Flying Daggers" rather than "Lovers" as initially pinned for this film. I mean how inappropriate is it to call the film "Lovers" when the basis of the film is someone who is unfaithful to her lover and ends up falling for another man within three days.

The sets and colour used for this film seemed a little unnatural and fake. It is strange that I mention this in a wuxia/period film. But the colour palettes used by Zhang Zimou, particularly in the Peony Pavilion scene, looked so pure and clean that it almost felt was if you were in the Homer Simpson house or a doll house. Sometimes it looked like you were watching a 3D cartoon. The outdoor settings were spectacular of course. The costumes I thought were too average, and colourful. The actors looked like puppets in those costumes. Perhaps the intention of director, Zhang Zimou. The best part about this film was its music score. But at times the music was used inappropriately. The fighting was as you?d expect in these kinds of flim, like a well choreographed dance.

The acting you can't fault. Takeshi, Andy Lau, and Zhang ZiYi played their parts to perfection. But acting, music score, and scenery cannot overcome what mattered most--a well written script and plot.

Lastly I wonder who thought of the idea of having a song sung in the English language in soprano, appear in an ancient Chinese period film. Does anyone have a set of free steak knives for me? I want to aim them at the producers. It's like having a love song sung in ancient Chinese opera appearing in "Titanic".

It doesn't take a genius to work out why this film failed to even be nominated for the best "Foreign Language Film" at the 2005 Academy Awards. It is clearly not worth it.