Going through the (slow) motions

Rating: 1/10 (18 December 2004)

Ever felt the need to watch some guys and girls draped in sheets flying around in slow motion for 90 minutes? If the answer is yes, you might like this one.
The film is praised for it's fantastic visuals and... come to think of it, that's all there is. There is absolutely nothing to care about in this film. There is zero back story - just a handful of people with swords staring at each other, flying, jumping, and philosophizing.
The entire plot is made up of fight scenes, repeated in the absurd. I think that one of the fights was depicted three times. The setting and colors were different, but if you've seen one of the fights, you've seen them all. If you deleted all the repetitions and rolled the film at normal speed, it would probably be around 30 minutes long.
As noted earlier, there are some pretty pictures - but you can get that from a travel brochure as well. The rest is just sleep inducing pretentious rubbish. See Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon instead. [1/10]