A Visual Feast with Heart

Rating: 10/10 (28 August 2004)

This film is breathtaking. The visuals are almost overpowering in their beauty. Color is used to maximum effect. Landscapes seem to breathe. Sets are more real than real. I'd heard that a lot of this film was shot on actual ancient locations in China, and it certainly seems to be the case. The action is oddly paced for American audiences, but once you let yourself fall into this movie it absorbs every crumb of your attention. You *believe* in these people. The message at the end, which some here are misinterpreting as the crushing of the individual, is one of profound depth . . . that the highest expression of the warrior's art is to make war no more, to move beyond the need for it. To see that the trivial battles of the moment are in the long run more harmful than helpful. Like "Crouching Tiger", the film holds the audience spellbound despite the undubbed Chinese dialogue. The actors' lines are sparse anyway, and the subtitles never seem to intrude or break the fourth wall. This one's going to be a classic, like "Seven Samurai" from a generation ago.