Incredible visuals, lacking story

Rating: 5/10 (28 December 2001)

I was extremely excited about seeing this movie. I'd waited for months and eagerly rushed to my local theater to view this period piece of Asian cinema. Is it beautiful? Yes. Exciting? Yes. Spectacular? Somewhat. Boring? Often. Nonsensical? Very. Long? It just seems like it.
While I greatly admired the magnificent sets and the well done action scenes, this movie couldn't get my interest. The main characters drone on endlessly, about things that can't be very obvious to anyone but the writer. The fights are good, but seem a little detached and lack some emotional punch, as does the rest of the movie. The movie wasn't even successful in making me care about the characters in a superficial way; their triumphs and deaths meant absolutely nothing to me, not even in the most fleeting way. The death of a main character in a movie that revolves around characters like this should emotionally drain me, not leave me happy that he/she won't be able to talk anymore.
This film was highly overrated, I suspect because critics and audiences alike don't want to think they don't understand quality cinema. Unless you are a fanatic about feminism, martial arts action scenes, or heavily philosophical dialogue, I can't recommend this disappointing film.