JOE29

I just watched the movie yesterday and it was ok. but as Mike said earlier I was also bored by the sappy love story that dominated the end of the movie. The fight scene from the trees I really liked but what ruined it for me was the sappy ending.

Mike Lowrey

Yep, there was one where the horse fell over head first and did a tumble with a huge thump.

Excuse my and but I just find this UK thing with censoring horse falls a bit amusing as this coming from a country that has ran traditional fox hunts for hundreds of years.

Giles

could you imagine what those screenshots (that WillyShatsWig provided) will look like on Blu-ray DVD.

(oh wait, Digitalbits make mention that there might be one HiDef DVD format)

meritocracy

To each their own. I found it emotionally satisfying.

gerrythedon

saw DAGGERS today [Blind Buy], I liked this movie alot.

also, borrowed HERO [from my brother], It was good. I just don't like Jet Li for a reason... It's not his movies [cause I haven't seen any others], it's just how he looks/talks

victant

Just saw this tonight, too. Great movie, but I think I had to be in the mood for the ending. The fight scenes were exciting with some breathtaking cinematography.

masetodd

A couple thoughts about this movie:

1) The horse-fall scenes brought back memories of movies in the 80's that didn't have all the "not even an insect was harmed during the making of this film" baloney.

2) The wire-fu was not overly distracting, unlike 99% of Kung Fu movies these days.

3) The "love" scenes looked more like "soft porn" scenes. There was no emotion, just animalistic sex - and it wasn't even good sex! Hell, even when I was 18 I performed more foreplay than these guys.

4) The pacing was too slow! (Thank goodness for Freecell on my laptop.)

eXcentris

I liked it too, and although it certainly isn't as good as Hero, it's still beautiful to watch. I had some of the same concerns as others here:

At 2 hours, the film is too long. The love story, despite the chemistry between Mei and Jin, isn't complex and engaging enough to support a film of this length. Plus, some of the dialogue is extremely corny. Some of the fight scenes are also too long and poorly shot/staged, almost seemed like they were too choreographed. They looked good esthetically but, except for the final scene (also too long), failed to convey much urgency or danger. The absence of Christopher Doyle (DP on Hero) is noticeable in that respect. I also thought that Andy Lau was miscast.

Josh Z

How sad is it that attention spans have whittled down to the point where even a 2 hour movie is called "too long"?

eXcentris

How sad is it that attention spans have whittled down to the point where people stop reading after the first sentence of posts and then draw silly conclusions about other people's attention span.

gutwrencher

Aside from the ending....I really liked this one, even though I had already heard that many did not care for it at all. I'm usually not that aware of a films length while watching it.....but this sorta seemed to fly by at a decent pace. I may be picking up the Starmax import at a later date.

DVD Polizei

But this is what Japanese movies are about. Awesome violence and romance. Who could ask for more?

DVD Polizei

I'll be watching it tonight.

Josh Z

It's a Chinese movie, but we get your point.

DVD Polizei

D'oh! I goofed.

Amel

Different strokes...
I thought the movie flew by the first time I saw it, and the second, and the third...

I haven't watched the new R1 yet, I just picked that up today. I wouldn't have got it but the ZZ commentary was too enticing for me to not get it. The special features as a whole are more attractive to me simply because they'll be in English/or English subs. That's the only disappointing thing about my Starmax edition. And the one missing sub line.

mikeporter

Although Ziyi Zhang's next movie is Memoirs of a Geisha where she plays one of Japan's most celebrated geisha. Hope this helps.

CrashNBurn69

i just finished watching this and i thought it was pretty good. i liked the fight scenes and even the love story. ive got a couple questions though. why didnt that one guy throw his dagger at the end? and did all those soldiers fall into the Daggers' trap or did they catch them?

Josh Z

And Takeshi Kaneshiro is half-Japanese. Maybe that's what he was thinking of?

Josh Z

You should learn to use spoiler tags, as below:

Ahab

Was Leo's motive for his action spelled out in one of the movie's commentaries? I have a different view of it than the one you gave above.

Josh Z

OK, I'll buy that as possible as well. In fact, I don't think the two explanations are at all mutually exclusive.

In the heat of battle, such logical distinctions are overwhelmed by the emotion of the moment. I doubt any of them were thinking further ahead than the very moment they were in.

Richard Malloy

Senses of Cinema has a decent critique of the film (though typically theory-laden and overly verbose) that does a fair job of teasing out all the ostensible and actual motivations of the characters through to the finale. For the pomo-averse, I believe the term "signify/signifier" is used only once in the entire piece... how refreshing.

Seriously, worth reading in light of the present discussion: http://www.sensesofcinema.com/conten...g_daggers.html

eXcentris

Interesting, in an overly analytical sort of way. My head hurts and this immediately comes to mind:

Josh Z

I've listened to the commentary now. This is the exact explanation that Zhang Yimou gives.