Epic and beautiful

Rating: 6/10 (10 July 2005)

** HERE BE SPOILERS **
Recap: Qin is fighting to unite China, which is divided in several small kingdoms. However, not all small kingdoms that are about to be conquered is really happy with that. So Qin has to live with several attempts on his life, and has taken extreme precautions to stop the assassins. Now one soldier has killed two of the most known assassins and is about to be rewarded by the king. The reward is stated by the law, gold and land and a toast a mere 10 steps away from the king (compared to the 100 steps one should normally consider). As the king and the soldier are about to toast, the soldier is asked to tell the story how he defeated is adversaries, known to have great skill. He tells a tale full of wit and cunning, skill with the sword and martial arts, and of love and betrayal. The king listens but senses that there are more to the story, not all has been told, or if the truth has been told...
Comment: A very beautiful movie with sharp contrasting colours in beautiful schemes. Large pieces of fabric accents and hides movement. Also the landscapes and scenery chosen for the movie are very dramatic and beautiful in itself. Together with the use of large armies this is truly a epic movie. However spectacular the battles and fights are, they are not the main focus of the movie. The focus are on the conversation between the king and the soldier, and on the story itself. What really happened, and why? So far, all is well. Then there is the decision on if you like this type of spectacular fights with skills that allow the combatants mind boggling speed and incredible jumps and so on. I don't. To me, they're more like choreographed dance than fights (yes I know that fights in movie are more or less choreographed, emphasize dance here). Sure, they are impressive and in a way fun to watch, but they're dances, too implausible to be exciting as fights. This actually lowers the tension and suspense in the movie, the fight scenes actually becomes pauses to relax in instead of heightening the suspense or thrill. This might have been intentional, what do I know? For me it is unfortunate. Still the movies should be seen, preferably in original language.
6/10