An Action Film with Several Twists and Turns

Rating: 4/10 (24 January 2019)

This picture begins in ancient China during the "Warring States Period" which features seven rival kingdoms all competing against one another with the Zhou and Qin kingdoms featured most prominently in this film. As the story unfolds, a warrior known simply as "Nameless" (Jet Li) comes to the "King of the Qin" (played by Daoming Chin) to report that he has killed the three greatest assassins who threaten the King's life. The warrior then goes on to recount the story during which the King grants certain favors to him as a symble of gratitude with the main concession being to allow Nameless to advance to within 10 paces of him. It's at this time that the King begins to observe some flaws in the story which puts a new perspective on everything. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that viewers of action films will probably enjoy this movie quite a bit as it has that one ingredient in spades. It also has several twists and turns which are certainly interesting in their own right. Unfortunately, as far as the action scenes are concerned, there were a number of preposterous stunts which I thought actually lessened the film's overall entertainment value. Likewise, the manner in which the story kept being recounted-with certain key changes in the process-didn't help that much either. In short, although this film was well received by most viewers, I didn't find it all that entertaining and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.