Shaolin Mantis [The Deadly Mantis] (1978) - 4/5

Director Lau Kar Leung may be known for some of his other films at great lengths (including "8-Diagram Pole Fighter") and his wickedly impressive fight choreography, "Shaolin Mantis" remains an underrated gem in the Shaw Brothers collection. It's a film that just shys from perfect, but takes some dramatic turns to raise the martial arts level of the film and give it weight. A move that makes "Shaolin Mantis" one of my personal favorites thus far in my collection.

Wei Fung (David Chiang), a man studied in both books and in martial arts, finds his family being held captive by the current dynasty. They will be killed unless he can infiltrate the Tien family and uncover their plot to overthrow the government. Wei Fung places himself as the new tutor of Chi-Chi (Huang Hsing-hsiu) the spoiled and martial arts savvy granddaughter of the head of the Tien family. When he is suspected of being a spy, Wei Fung must decide which of his families he will betray, his real family being held prisoner or his new family and new found love for Chi-Chi.

What makes "Shaolin Mantis" such a fantastic addition to any martial arts fan's collection is the combination of drama and plot to the obviously stellar fight choreography. David Chiang works some subtle magic with the lead role, but its the supporting cast that steals this film. Huang Hsing-hsiu starts off as an annoying character who grows on the audience as well as on our lead. Even the various 'villains' of the films - including the uncles and the grandfather - own the roles and give just enough characterization to their brief moments for weight of the plot to be added. This works as the first two-thirds of the film and builds a great drama and plot to finalize with the relatively relentless final act.

The final act owns too. When the fighting starts - its impressively choreographed, shot, and paced as our hero must fight his way out of the Tien house, train himself in a new mantis based style of kung fu, and fight his way back in for vengeance. Although I would have loved to see more of the fantastically crafted mantis fighting in the film (it really only appears in the final fight sans the rather pointless intro for the film), this finale is well executed and a great way to end the film.

If there was any complaints to have about "Shaolin Mantis", it would be that the plot is extensive enough and strong enough that it could have used another 20 minutes of build up. Instead of seeing our hero learn his new style in the final act to go back and throw down with the 'villains', it would have been nice to see it more in the middle of the film and this would have given more weight to some of the choices (like the oddly paced marriage that is rushed through in the film). Also the final "twist" of the film, in the final moments, is a solid idea, but oddly tacked onto the film that leaves it standing in a sort of purgatorial state of ambiguity for its last moment. Not a way to end such a well done film.

"Shaolin Mantis" may have its faults, with its pacing and odd ending, but the rest of the film is splendidly executed. It earns its audience with great characters and a standard, but well delivered plot. The fighting is stellar (particularly when the Mantis style comes to the screen) and the Shaw Brothers once again deliver a classic martial arts film that many will love and appreciate. A classic in any collection.

Written By Matt Reifschneider

Blitz (2011) - 3.5/5

Jason Statham might be one of my favorite actors at this time, but let's just admit it...the films he is in aren't that great. Entertaining sure, but legitly good films? Hardly. This is one of the reasons that "Blitz" struck me as such a surprise...it's actually quite an effective thriller. Statham gives one of the best performances to date and despite a fairly bland approach to the pacing of the story, its effective in its telling and delivers up some solid suspense and impressive 'tough guy' moments for our lead.

Brant (Statham) is the kind of cop you hate to love to have on your team. He's brash, brutal, and tends to want to beat his way through most problems with his fists and a solid glass of alcohol. This is why he doesn't get along with the well put together new inspector Nash (Considine). When the two are charged with finding a new killer hellbent on taking cops to the grave, they must put aside their differences and use their strengths to capture this deranged killer before he gets to them first.

As I've stated time and time again, thrillers rarely find an original plot or script, but have to rely heavily on the execution to be successful. "Blitz" does this to some surprising success. Director Lester does an amiable job keeping the pacing up and the atmosphere thick with the south London vibe and he single handedly makes many of the rather by the numbers sequences click with well timed intensity. He takes many of the basic scenes to a higher level just with his visual execution.

This, ironically, is not the highlight of "Blitz". Turns out, its the acting and casting of the film. This is strange considering that Statham plays the same character he basically does in every film. He just happens to have enough subtlety added to his character and some great monologues to give that he rises above his normal routine. The supporting cast also seems impressively placed and performed. Considine delivers a great supporting and balancing act for Statham and Gillem steals the film with his often edgy and riveting villain. This takes the otherwise basic characters and dialogue to new levels to match Lester's vision.

Certainly "Blitz" never feels all that original and the rather obvious twist ending never really seems to give the audience that last thrill, but the execution on this British cops n robbers tale is stellar. The acting is well done and Lester does some impressive things with what he is given. This throws the film up and above its own means. Mostly for Statham fans, but those looking for a great little rental should also check it out.

Written By Matt Reifschneider

Amityville 3-D [Amityville III: The Demon] (1983) - 2/5

Dino De Laurentiis jumped on the trend for third films in a franchise at the time as this third "Amityville" film (released overseas as “Amityville III: The Demon”) followed the footsteps of “Jaws III” and “Friday the 13th Part III” and got released in 3-D. Icky Poo! Not only is the 3-D gimmicks predictably bad, but so is the tired, cliché haunted house plot which is the first in the series to be completely "fictional" based.

Well we have an arrogant, no shit taking skeptic (looking like the mixture of the Brady Bunch father and Will Ferrell) who unwisely decides to buy the notorious Amityville house, ignoring the stories and past history. Unlucky for him! Soon people start falling like flies around him.

This character that buys the house is so damn annoying. I mean people die around him left and right and he still refuses to leave. Skeptic or not... something is going on in the house SO GET YOUR FUCKING ASS OUTTA THERE!

The film introduces an aspect of a "Demon" (mentioned in the subtitle for the foreign release) but it's only vaguely hit upon. A women takes a picture, develops it and sees a demon head in the corner of the photo. Later we see a demon pop out of a well in the basement (so when did a well become an integral part of the plot? The continuity is shit in the series!) and humorously blows fire, melting a paranormal investigators face.

Dino De Laurentiis, in an effort to liven this tired sequel up, hired veteran director Richard Fleischer. Sadly here he seems as bored with the subject matter as the viewers are. Nothing exciting goes on... just the typical swarm of flies, black goo and ominous feelings visitors get. The only thing really “new” added to the plot is the gimmicky 3-D aspect but that is even done poorly. Watch out for the flies flying off the screen!

Typical with 3-D films of the era the 2D versions on home video are muddy and murky. What’s even more head-ache inducing is distributors never retitled it for home video releases and kept the “Amityville 3-D” title. The original Vestron Video release and the newer MGM DVD are both guilty of this so many people who rented or purchased the film expect it to be in 3D. I even know people who have boughten the film thinking it was a 3D version of the original "Amityville Horror". Lionsgate was even smart enough to retitle "Saw 3D" "Saw: The Final Chapter" on home video to avoid confusion.

Even with all these annoyances, there is still one that takes the cake. The filmmakers decide to go against the R ratings of the original films and opt for a PG rating, no doubt wanting to sucker in a younger crowd wanting to see shit pop out of the screen at 'em. Nothing like castrating your R-rated haunted house franchise huh Laurentiis?

"Amityville 3-D", despite having a veteran director and an opportunity for a script free of 'actual happenings', ends up an absolute waste. This could have been a scary good time and instead it's a bore intermittent with a few unintentional laughs. It's so bad that it actually almost killed the franchise and marked the final entry into the series to see a theatrical release. If you must see it then keep an eye out for a very young Meg Ryan in an early role... it's one of the few things to keep you watching.

Written By Eric Reifschneider

Thor (2011) - 3/5

Of all the popular Marvel superheroes and those included on The Avengers, Thor was easily one of my least favorite. The tale never connected with me and the odd parallel of having an ancient myth god as a superhero just never sat well. Thusly, "Thor" is one of the Marvel films I was least interested in. I don't care if you get a great director, a solid cast, and give it a modern visual feast - it's still fucking Thor. Turns out the film isn't near as horrid as it could have been and contains a certain lightheartedness that sells the whole thing nicely. Not to mention it has all of those things listed above to its benefit. Still not great and one still has to leave the brain checked out to enjoy it, but it is fun.

Thor (Hemsworth) is a brash and arrogant soon to be king in the science fiction/alternate/space/ancient realm of Asgard, who after instigating a bit of a fight with their arch rivals the Frost Giants, gets banished to Earth where he must earn the power of his hammer back. With the help of an American scientist Jane (Portman), Thor must regain his composure, retrieve his hammer from S.H.I.E.L.D., and uncover a larger plot involving his brother Loki (Hiddleston) and aging father Odin (Hopkins).

Let's be honest, compared to the likes of both of the "Iron Man" films, "Thor" is a bit of a disappointment. It's obvious that Kenneth Branagh understood many of the flaws of the script and its ridiculous plot points and takes the focus to the right directions: visual grandeur and tongue-in-cheek moments to alleviate the awkwardness. This is truly "Thor"s saving grace and prevents it from falling too far into modern B-movie drivel. The settings and combination of classic Norse mythology done with the science fiction twist transfers well to the look of the film and Branagh ably captures the ridiculousness of the action in all of its cheesy glory to the film's benefit. Partnering this with the rather charming performance of Hemsworth (who owns the 'stranger in a strange land' humor to its fullest) and some stellar supporting cast work - including a very well portrayed Loki - and "Thor" has some solid things going for it.

Unfortunately, the film suffers from a bit too many cliche's and some lacking logic to its plot. Thor's powers seem almost unmatched (he can fly, make tornadoes, shatter ground to the core, magically boomerang his hammer around, and of course throw down like it was nothing but play time) to the point where if he didn't win it would be asinine and the rather poorly developed romantic sub-plot with a horridly used Portman does nothing to really convince the audience of Thor's magic redemption. This knocks the film down from its mighty myth pedesta.

All in all, "Thor" is a fun, the action is well crafted (if not too ridiculous - like the big ice lizard), and the humor is pretty spot on. This makes it an entertaining watch with its charisma, but below the surface of this film "Thor" suffers from poorly scripted sub plots and horridly used supporting cast members like Portman. I'm sure that the series will strengthen now that the 'origin' plot is out of the way so I am looking forward to "Thor 2", but for now this entry remains an entertaining film but not much more beyond that.

Written By Matt Reifschneider

Deathstalker II: Duel of the Titans (1987) - 3/5

"By popular demand!" - Deathstalker

I might be mistaken but I highly doubt they made "Deathstalker II" due to popular demand but needless to say part 1 must have made enough money in video rentals to warrant a sequel. Though I love the original film for what it is (a delightfully awful Sword & Sorcery romp) I have to respect the direction that director / screenwriter Jim Wyrnorski took this sequel. Where-as the first film took itself seriously, Wyrnorski decides to poke fun at the low budget sword & sorcery film with this deliciously funny semi-spoof.

Deathstalker (this time portrayed by John Terlesky) with the help of a mega-hot princess must defeat an evil wizard. Hey, what else did you expect?

Like the first film, "Deathstalker II" was originally written to be serious but tongue-in-cheek schlock director Jim Wyrnorski saw the first film and read the script and new there is no way such drivel could be made seriously without becoming a laughing stock. The night before shooting began, he completely rewrote the script to be a semi spoof of the ridiculous sword & sorcery genre.

I'm appearing in a sequel to what?

This new approach is evident from the opening pre-title sequence when our hero of the title escapes an evil vixen with here yelling to the screen "I will have my revenge and Deathstalker too" before the title "Deathstalker II" comes burning onto the screen accompanied by a screaming synthesizer score. This my friend is the intro to a hilarious, spoofy good time!

"Deathstalker, is that your first our last name?"

Wynoroski loads his script up with silly, self aware dialogue. Example: "Deathstalker, is that your first or last name?" He even takes a little cartoon approach in some scenes, where our heroin sneaks around a castle and appears in the same shot coming out from behind multiple walls. It's completely Scooby Doo! The film finally goes completely bonkers when Wynorkski has our title hero actually fight a women in a boxing ring. Seriously what-the-hell?

Queen Kong!

Just because the film has a spoofy, funny tone to it, Wyrnorski still delivers the goods when it comes to violence and nudity so to answer everyone's question this is NOT a family friendly Deathstalker film. Hell this rivals the number of boobies we saw in the original... and that's a true feat! Hands down actress Monique Gabrielle has the best set of knockers I have ever seen! Yummy!

Yes that is a boxing ring... in a sword & sorcery flick

John Terlesky is given free reign to completely have fun in the role as Deathstalker. Despite the name this is NOT the same guy that Richard Hill portrayed the first time around. Instead of being a mostly silent barbarian brute raping and killing across the countryside, this Deathstalker is a young, cocky and mouthy adventurer and Terlesky plays the role self aware, almost like he knows he's acting in a bad sword-and-sorcery sequel. I had a ball with his performance.

The production values are shit as expected and much of the acting is head-ache inducing, but the spoofy approach to the film makes all this much more stomachable. I enjoyed "Deathstalker II" immensely... just don't expect a serious sequel. The director and all the actors had fun making this silly film and that sense of festivity emanates off the screen and the audience can't help but be sucked into the buffoonery. What can a say other than "Deathstalker II" is real treat.

Written By Eric Reifschneider

Dylan Dog: Dead Of Night (2011) - 2.5/5

After being captivated by "Cemetery Man" and its horror/comedy brilliance, my research about the film led me to the recently released "Dylan Dog" - whose concept was inspired by a comic from the same writer. Although the rotten reviews had originally spewed in over this horror/comedy loosely based on the comic, the saving grace for the film is probably the fact that I never read the comic. Without that comparison in mind, I found "Dylan Dog" to be a quirky and fun little jaunt into the supernatural detective film, even if it was never all that original. It's fun and certainly has some well executed highlighted moments, but never touches the shine that "Cemetery Man" left in the same conceptual areas.

Dylan Dog (Routh) has been a retired 'undead detective' since his lady love found her way to the other side of death at the hands of some seriously pissed off vampires. His new detective agency and quirky partner Marcus (Huntington) keeps him busy and out of the business of vampires, werewolves, and zombies. His latest client insists her father was killed by a werewolf and when his partner Marcus succumbs to sudden death followed by eternal life as a zombie (still working as his partner mind you), Dylan seems forced back into the underworld to solve a case that just might end the world.

One aspect that helped me enjoy "Dylan Dog" was my insanely low expectations of the film. In the U.S. it was quickly crapped on by critics and audiences, where its fleeting existence in theaters rushed it out to home video where it floated in poor marketed territory for far too long. The film didn't deserve that bad of press, but it got it. Most of the criticisms can be legit for the film though, I must admit. Is it original? No. Is it well executed? At times, but it is Munroe's first live film, so he gets the benefit of the doubt here. Is the script cliche and weak? Very much so through most of the film. In this sense, I fully agree with the harsh spats of other critics. I'm sure if I was an avid fan of the comic I would be right with them too.

Luckily, I am not. So "Dylan Dog" was a new experience for me and even with its relatively well worn ideas and rather by the numbers script approaches to being clever, I was charmed by its quirky attack at the subject matter. Routh works well as the title character, even if his backing story is a bit underdeveloped, but his chemistry with Huntington is well worth the watch. Huntington steals practically every scene he is in and highlights the film with his adaptive zombie state sub plot (the "I'm a zombie" support group being more than a great concept that they should have run with). Even some of the dialogue and Dylan narration has some hilarious moments that work the concept to its heels (particularly with Dylan and Marcus).

In the end, I enjoyed the film more than it was as a 'good' film. The execution is shaky from Munroe who is obviously an amateur with live action and making the action sequences work like they should, but the charm of its concept and some very funny sequences carry over many of its faults. It might not be a great kick off for a film version of "Dylan Dog", but my hopes go to franchising the film further as it can be made better and the concept is strong enough to carry it out.

Written By Matt Reifschneider

Deathstalker (1983) - 1.5/5

"I only kill to stay alive, not for the luxury of glory" - Deathstalker

Out of all the sword & sorcery clones that came in the wake of "Conan the Barbarian", none has a worse reputation than "Deathstalker" (though "Ator the Fighting Eagle" could easily challenge "Deathstalker" for the that trophy turd ). "Deathstalker" is bad, real fucking bad... yet I love it. I will be completely honest and say that "Deathstalker" is one of my all time favorite guilty pleasures hence why I decided to bump it up a 1/2 star in my rating when it most deservedly should get nothing more than 1 star.

Taking place in a time of barbarity and magic, Deathstalker roams the land raping women and killing trolls and other monsters. On a rather random note, he meets a king who tells him about a sadistic wizard who took over his castle. Deathstalker, with the help of a topless warrior woman, travels to the wizards castle to enter his tournament, hoping to kill the wizard and to bed any beauty he likes.

I can't tell... is that a wig?

"Deathstalker" is the brainchild of schlock rip-off producer Roger Corman and even he seems to be a little embarrassed to have his name attached to such a feeble exploitation film as he goes uncredited. Though his name is no-where to be seen in the opening credits, "Deathstalker" still has the main two ingredients that Corman productions always deliver: 1) Violence and 2) Nudity. "Deathstalker" is full of these two ingredients as I lost count how many heads roll and boobies pop out.

A tattoo that can make Mike Tyson proud

The production values are equally as shoddy as the overall filmmaking. Cheap cardboard sets, bad wigs, and ridiculous outfits. Even John Carl Beuchler's special effects are as delightfully absurd as they would be in later Charles Band productions "Ghoulies" and "Troll". My favorite special effect is the face of a cave troll and the actor actually has to fix it on his face while the camera was shooting. Seriously, what the hell?

Seriously... what the fuck is he wearing?

Our hero, the ridiculously named Deathstalker, is woodenly portrayed by Richard Hill (sometimes known as Rick Hill). "Hero" should be used loosely as this guy isn't even too shitty to be an "Anti-hero". Seriously this guy fucking rapes women and kills and steals from whomever he pleases. Our evil "hero" is matched by an interesting evil villain in the form of Monkar, an albino wizard that has a strange tattoo on his face and a hand puppet monster in a box. Monkar even has the amazing ability to spontaneously change the sex of anyone he pleases, making for an awkward attempted rape by Deathstalker when he finds out the women packs a little more below the belt than he expected.

A pig soldier eating a pig head... irony?

I won't lie when I say "Deathstalker" is the lowest common denominator when it comes to filmmaking but at the same time that's what is appealing about it for me. The extreme violence, nudity, shoddy effects, bad dialogue and unlikeable hero makes this awful "Conan" rip-off a must see for connoisseurs of trash cinema. Hell "Deathstalker" even one upped "Conan" by being followed by three, count 'em, three fucking sequels and even a spin-off franchise in the form of the "Barbarian Queen" duology. "Conan" was only graced with one crappy sequel... and I would much rather watch "Deathstalker" any day over "Conan the Destroyer". Take that Conan!

Bonus praise: I love the sequence where a soldier with a pig head, while at a feast, picks up a roasted pig head on a platter, looks at it awkwardly, and then takes a bite! The filmmakers must have loved it too as it would make an appearance in both "Deathstalker II" and "Deathstalker IV" as stock footage.

Written By Eric Reifschneider

Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - 3.5/5

Although the "Pirates" franchise may have started off as a surprisingly solid fun action film, but the franchise quickly tanked due to its new focus on being too epic for its britches. This is the main reason that it took me so long to finally watch this fourth entry into the series even if it is one of the all time biggest money makers world wide at the time of this review. To my surprise though, "On Stranger Tides" goes back to what worked in the original film and simplifies the story down quite a bit and just becomes a fun ride again - no pun intended - much to its own benefit.

Jack Sparrow (Depp) finds himself, once again, bewildered at the news he is hearing. Turns out he is getting a crew together to go find The Fountain Of Youth before the Spanish can get there, even though he doesn't have a ship. This leads the scavenger pirate on a new quest to discover who is out to find the Fountain Of Youth and for a reason why he is so important to this journey. Odd friends and villains find themselves entangled in the mystery too as the elusive and frightening Black Beard (McShane) seems to be behind the entire mess.

It's hard for me to claim that "On Stranger Tides" is a good film (as it is for any of the "Pirates" films). The characters a bit depthless when it comes to character arcs, sans the mermaid and clergyman sub plot which is horribly underdeveloped and left to float off by the end, and the film still tries to pack far too many concepts and plot lines into its two hour run time. This over crowding of characters/plot lends the film to brush over many of its more serious moments of development in the ideology of pushing it forward to get it all in. This is the same problem that has plagued the series since film number two and although "On Stranger Tides" does effectively fix some of the flaws of its predecessors, its still not quite enough to jack it up to the next level.

That being said, this film is really fucking entertaining. Pushing out the Bloom/Knightley overplayed characters and plots only shaved off some of the dying story and even though the character of Sparrow might seem gimmicky, watching him for two hours leaves a smile on the face. Yeah, his character is weakly developed and rarely goes anyplace in this film, but he's got a lot of great lines in the film and his outrageous escapist moments are fascinating to watch. Partner this with some killer action set pieces including sword fights, mutinies, and an unforgettable attempt to capture some pissed off mermaids and "On Stranger Tides" really works the elements that make this series such a blast to watch.

Although this fourth entry still isn't a great film as far as serious moments and impactful themes go, its a return to fantastical form that entertains even more so than its two previous entries. All the greatest characters return (weeding out the baggage) and the addition of even more ridiculous people - including a fabulous performance from Blackbeard as the film's villain - sells the film more so than it should have. Not great, but a blast to watch nonetheless.

Written By Matt Reifschneider

Taxi (1998) - 3.5/5

Although Luc Besson might be known for his kick ass films like "Taken", "The Transporter", or "La Femme Nikita", he does have an odd humorous side to his film writing output that includes films like "Taxi". Although not the atrocity to film that was its remake in 2004 with Jimmy Fallon and Queen Latifah, this "Taxi" is a smarmy paced and high chemistry riddled buddy cop formula film that really utilizes its quirky characters for some great laughs and some fun car chase sequences. Perhaps not the laugh-a-minute ride I kept wanting it to be, "Taxi" does a lot of things right and comes across as a great quirky film worth the watch.

A renowned pizza delivery man Daniel (Naceri) has finally made his dream come true. His taxi license is finally passed through and with his maxed out home crafted taxi car he is going to cater his need for driving thrills. Too bad a cop (Diefenthal) catches him in the act and forces him to help with a bank heist group. Now Daniel must help capture these criminals before he loses his taxi license forever.

The story is cheesy, I know, but the chemistry between our two leads is on screen gold and is the element that carries "Taxi" through most of its play time. The story is basic and seemingly goes through the motions, but the characters are fun enough to really make it worth. Not to mention that there is enough caricature driven supporting characters (the guy who never knocks is the best) that it really creates a great dynamic for the film that makes it work even if the story tries too hard to be clever when it really isn't.

As a bonus, the driving sequences are surprisingly fun and solid despite the obviously limited budget of the film. The shootout in the street between the cops grabs just the right amount of outrageousness to make it a humorous action sequence and "Taxi" does a decent job at performing this balance through out the film. Although I would have liked the finale to be stronger when it comes to being an action focused sequence (sometimes I wondered if Luc Besson really wrote this by the finale), it works for what it is.

Although "Taxi" wasn't quite the hilarious throw down of action I expected it to be, particularly from Besson, it still carried a fun chemistry with its quirky characters and rather well paced story. Not all that original, even for a buddy cop film, but it works for what it is and does it effectively. It perks the curiosity just enough to make the franchise a must see in my collection. Looking forward to see if "Taxi 2" pushes it even further.

Written By Matt Reifschneider

House Of Flying Daggers - 4/5

Although my love of the film "Hero" with Jet Li knows no bounds, it has taken quite some time for me to finally get around to "House Of Flying Daggers" despite having a stunning cast. Time was irrelevant though as the film's execution didn't lose value. Zhang Yimou strikes again with another solid directorial effort that utilizes the cast and settings to its full advantage, even if the script leaves some to be desired for originality and occasional lack of logic.

Jin (Kaneshiro) and Leo (Lau) are two deputies charged with finding the leader of the elusive and renegade House Of Flying Daggers. When word that a rogue female member of the group could be found at a local brothel, the two friends and swordsmen devise a plan to earn a hefty reward by following her back to the group. When Jin goes undercover with Mei (Ziyi) though, he finds himself quickly falling for the unique and well trained woman, but alliances have been made and for him to follow his heart he may have to betray his entire life.

"House Of Flying Daggers" rocks and rolls with a brilliant visual style. The wicked use of color eats away through the film (as is with all of Yimou) and his use of setting and historical coloring/texture for the film is stunningly well crafted. The overpowering green sequences in the bamboo forests are beautiful and the finale battle in the blizzard has a great stark contrast. This is the obvious highlight for this film and biggest part to chew on. It also helps that Yimou brought in a stunning cast (including Kaneshiro and Lau) who light up the screen with their subtle and often deep expressions of their torn lives. This combination of cast and director is the true highlight for this film.

If the script was just slightly stronger, this easily would have been a five out of five. Not that the script is bad, in fact, it starts off with such force that it almost carried it through the entire film. The dialogue is killer and many of the scenes are so strong that it's hard to think that any would falter, but the latter half of the film does. It builds so many characters so strongly in the first half that when they start twisting the well built love and war story it seems to feel almost a bit forced and from there it starts to lose quite a bit of logic. It almost gets funny with the amount of "you're not who you say you are" moments and the relatively awkward ending and its sudden weather change and final moment. Symbolically it works, but pulling back it does feel a bit forced a rather mismatched. Not the way one would want to end such a strong film.

"House Of Flying Daggers" is another success for Yimou and his dynamic visual style and strong film builds even if it does slightly falter towards the end. The cast is stunning, the visuals overwhelming, and the martial art sequences a solid blend of realistic fighting and flighty fantastical elements. As a fan of this style, "Flying Daggers" hits home like a knife to the heart and certainly entertains to its full extent.

Written By Matt Reifschneider