'HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS' LOOKS BETTER THAN IT FEELS.Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic KNIVES DO indeed soar, as do fists, feet and all manner of sharp weapons in Zhang Yimou's gorgeous, arty kung-fu flick, ``House of Flying Daggers.'' But while all the pointy point·y adj. point·i·er, point·i·est Having an end tapering to a point. objects do connect - and connect repeatedly - in the film, Zhang is unable to deliver the knockout blow he's aiming for here: a dizzying punch to the heart. That means ``Daggers,'' Zhang's follow-up to his 2002 movie, ``Hero'' (which, because of Miramax dithering Simulating more colors and shades in a palette. In a monochrome system that displays or prints only black and white, shades of grays can be simulated by creating varying patterns of black dots. This is how halftones are created in a monochrome printer. , was only released here in August), is something of a failure, albeit a stylish and often rousing botch. The movie is generous to a fault with its action, and the show-stopping set pieces are nothing short of incredible. But the characters never feel like anything more than marionettes, emotionally empty vessels expertly guided by action director Tony Ching For the Chinese surname Ching 程, see . For the Chinese dynasty, see . The ching (Thai: ฉิ่ง; sometimes romanized as chhing) are small bowl-shaped finger cymbals of thick and heavy bronze, with a broad rim commonly used in Cambodia and Siu-Tung's wires. Normally that would be enough, although the genre itself is beginning to show signs of wearing thin. The problem comes with Zhang's ambitions for his film. After exploring the epic with ``Hero,'' Zhang attempts to zero in on the intimate with ``Daggers.'' Unfortunately, the movie's barrage of computer-generated effects gets in the way. So why bother? One word: spectacle. ``Daggers'' is set in the year A.D. 859, with China's ruling Tang Dynasty Tang dynasty or T'ang dynasty (618–907) Chinese dynasty that succeeded the short-lived Sui and became a golden age for poetry, sculpture, and Buddhism. struggling to hold on to power amid persistent underground rebellion. The biggest - and baddest - group of dissenters dissenters: see nonconformists. is the House of Flying Daggers, something of a proto-feminist band of butt-kicking, rabble-rousing kung-fu chicks. The emperor, understandably, wants to wipe out the House. A captain, Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro Takeshi Kaneshiro (Japanese and Chinese: 金城武, Hepburn: Kaneshiro Takeshi, Pinyin: Jīnchéng Wǔ), (born October 11, 1973) is a male actor and model. ), goes undercover and finds what he thinks is the alliance's new leader, a blind dancer named Mei (Ziyi Zhang). He's supposed to win her trust and her heart and bring her to justice. Their journey involves all the usual emotional stopping points: repression, jealousy, feigned feigned adj. 1. Not real; pretended: a feigned modesty. 2. Made-up; fictitious. Adj. 1. indifference and simmering passion. (A bare shoulder is a big deal here.) But as was the case in ``Hero,'' the film's color schemes are more fully developed than the characters. Which leaves us with the movie's thrilling action sequences, which make use of, among other things, flying cloth, bouncing beans and raining bamboo stalks. At least a couple of these scenes are among the year's finest achievements in film, distinctive for their sound as much as their visual style. In that respect, ``Daggers'' cuts deep. Glenn Whipp, (818) 713-3672 glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS - Three stars (PG-13: stylized styl·ize tr.v. styl·ized, styl·iz·ing, styl·iz·es 1. To restrict or make conform to a particular style. 2. To represent conventionally; conventionalize. martial arts This is a list of martial arts, broken down by region and style. African martial arts Eritrea
Starring: Ziyi Zhang, Takeshi Kaneshiro. Director: Zhang Yimou. Running time: 1 hr. 59 min. Playing: Select theaters. In a nutshell: May not connect with the heart as intended, but Zhang Yimou's kinetic follow-up to ``Hero'' has a couple of the best sequences you'll see this year on film. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Ziyi Zhang plays the suspected leader of a group of dissenters - who becomes a target of China's Tang Dynasty - in the visually spectacular ``House of Flying Daggers.'' |
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