disappointing after all the hype

Rating: 5/10 (13 February 2001)

What's the big deal about this movie? All I can think is that because it was an art-house movie, art-house viewers were blown away by a movie that was more exciting than watching paint dry. Yes, it has great fight choreography, beautiful scenery and great cinematography. No doubt it should win an award for best cinematography. Best picture? I don't think so. Nor should its screenplay be up for best adapted screenplay. There is not much dialogue, which is only to be expected when about seventy per cent of the movie is fight scenes. Plot? That's pretty minimal, as well. Basically, the plot is: girl steals sword, fights people, brings it back, takes again, and the good guys chase her and catch and there's a big fight scene. There is little to no character development. All the characters are pretty much stock characters who don't really change or grow. Mostly they just have big fights. First you have the wise teacher/fighter (Obi Wan Kenobi, anyone), then you have the young, enthusiastic and highly skilled, but impulsive and often wrong-headed neophyte (read Luke Skywalker and countless westerns), the embittered evil villain who is extremely skillful, too (Darth Vader), and, of course, the charming, cute renegade good guy, here the Mongol raider, Han Solo in Star Wars. To be kind, I guess we can call these arch-types. The motivations of the main character, whose name seemed to be Jen according to the sub-titles but sounded like something else entirely when they said it, were unclear, other than to set up another fight scene. Why does she want to stay with this guy in the desert, but then goes back, but then refuses to marry him when he comes for her, but then runs away that same night. And why does she want this sword? Especially the second time. The fights are balletic, and I did enjoy the huge sword vs. every other weapon in the arsenal scene between the two women, but I found the flying scenes and the bouncing around in the treetops scene more silly than either exciting or pretty. The actors are good actors, I think. Michelle Yeoh has a beautifully expressive face. But, again, mostly what they do is martial arts, and great martial arts isn't the same as great acting.