Beautiful, but far too bland

Rating: 6/10 (20 September 2004)

I was really shocked and let down by the IMDb.com rating system this time around. I actually talked the wife into going to see this movie based on the 8.2 IMDb.com rating, and we were both extremely let down.
Before you assume we are just another pair of idiot "Hollywood" film fans, we aren't. In fact, we appreciate nothing less than a refreshing and well done movie, from script to film. We enjoy movies like Memento, as well as films like Crouching Tiger, Lord of the Rings, etc.
When I saw the 8.2 rating, I got quite excited, a rating usually reserved for movies that brought something original, exciting or wonderful to the table, like Jaws, A Clockwork Orange, The Wizard of Oz, The Sting, 2001, Finding Nemo and Annie Hall.
We both found this movie visually beautiful. The camera work and effects were amazing. The fight scenes were well done, but it's standard stuff you've seen before (not as good as Crouching Tiger in my opinion). In fact, it almost seems like a complete ripoff of Crouching Tiger as far as the combination of dancing and people hanging on strings to fly around in (almost silly) slow motion.
As for the characters ... you can almost tell they are all solid/fine actors, but their characters border on being hollow and completely out of touch. You cannot relate to any of these characters at all, with the exception of the relationship between Broken Sword and Flying Snow, which at times borders on being interesting (those times are short lived).
Then you have the character of Sky, who is introduced early on, has one or two lines and becomes extinct from the movie early on.
The character of Moon is puzzling and annoying, as she serves no real purpose. I largely wonder if she (Ziyi Zhang) was inserted simply because she is a "hot item" in the Asian cinema these days ... there is even a small gratuitous sex scene with her involved as Broken Sword's servant. Neither myself nor the wife understood what the heck she was doing in the movie, aside from a few overly melodramatic screams, cries and sword scenes.
Some of the fight scenes were so silly that the wife started laughing out loud in the theater. You know that "I feel embarrassed for the movie" kind of feeling that you hate, where you start to feel like people are going to get up and walk out on the film? Yeah, that feeling. Two guys in a sword fight that keep stabbing the tips of their swords into a lake simply because it looks good on film visually, but with no real purpose.
Basically this was like an old low-budget Bruce Lee film, with the same stone-like uncharismatic characters and facial expressions, but mix in some beautiful cinematography and some downright strange behavior. If you remove the exceptional art work, the film struggles to even be mediocre. With the advent of effects, I give it a 6/10 rating, and will certainly never see it again.
Would love to see this film crew work with a better script though.