A surprising hero

Rating: 8/10 (7 February 2016)

An entrancing film, beautifully made, that floats above language. And its real hero, a first for any action-adventure or martial-arts movie, is calligraphy.
This is epigraphy, the graphic meaning of words that is added by writing. At its core is the Chinese word for sword, and in this pre-machine Qin dynasty, the sword is the meaning of fighting, of war. And the ending spells this out in a transcendent way.
The formation of the guards, the battles, the classical Chinese special effects that enhance, the symmetry of the dance-fighting, and the frequent evocation of words, made me forget that the plot by typical standards is thin, and the dialogue almost non-existent. Just a few words and a few conversations of their meaning, tied together by Dun Tan's sweet score, and beautiful cinematography by Christopher Doyle.
As a graphic designer, it is gratifying to have a movie where the hero is letterforms!