a truly beautiful film, benefiting from acting and

Rating: 10/10 (16 March 2001)

I saw this film for the first time last night, and I can say that I was supremely impressed.
The first thing you notice as the film begins and the credits roll over you is the music. The music is some of the best in ANY film, ever. Mostly quiet, the film has managed to escape the hollywood trap of giving every single second of picture a note to go with it. Instead, when the characters talk to each other, there is just the background noise, and their voices. With no music to influence you, it is somehow much more satisfying than it otherwise would be.
But when the action starts, so does the music, and it fits perfectly with the fight scenes; breathtaking.
Which brings me onto the fights. Supremely choreographed, the speed at which the participants move is astonishing, as are a lot of the things they do. If you really thought the matrix had good fight scenes, well, you had obviously never seen a Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan movie, but this puts even them to shame. Unlike almost all other reveiws i have read, i believe that the treetop battle scene is the weakest of the fights, with none of the frantic action of the one in the nighttime courtyard or the fight in the tavern.
During these scenes you get a real sense of danger, of being on the edge - the combatants are only a slipped foot or missed handhold away from dying at the hands of their adversary, and this sense of frantic, urgent action comes across very well.
The heros and heroines of the piece are also extremely well acted in those all important quiet bits. Usually these chop-socky chinese language films are poor when it comes to the storyline, but not in this case. The adult story contains lies, betrayal, revenge, unrequited love and a whole raft of double bluffs.
the scenery is always beautifull and some of the camera work, especially following a falling man down as he falls from one level of a building to another is also fantastic.
Basically, if you havn't seen this yet, you've missed out.