Outstanding visual feast with a more than adequate plot.

Rating: 9/10 (18 March 2005)

Zhang Yimou is truly a visual artist. While I won't compare him to Kurosawa in terms of his prowess as a director, he does share one similarity to the great master of Asian cinema: Many of the scenes/images in this film are practically paintings, rather than simple frames of a movie. A perfect example would be the shot of the unnamed walking towards the King's chambers through tens of thousands of guards. The overwhelming see of black, with colors interspersed and a lone figure walking past this sea of armor is truly epic art. The colors are vibrant, Tan Dun's accompanying score is beautiful and haunting, and the action (while limited) is more dance-like than it is pure violence.
The storyline is similar to Rashomon, in that the protagonist, the unnamed (Jet Li), is brought before the emperor after slaying 3 powerful would-be assassins; Sky, Snow, and Broken Sword. He tells the emperor of how he managed to complete this impossible task. As the movie progresses, we hear several different variations of this story: The one which unnamed tells, followed by the emperor's response to the story of what he believes actually happened, followed by the real truth concerning what happened. It is masterfully woven and Yimou's use of color themes to separate these perspectives is wonderfully done.
Some of the effects are absolutely breathtaking. The sequence in which Donnie Yen and Jet Li face off while a blind man plays them a tune is simultaneously kinetic and poetic. When Moon (Zhang Ziyi) faces of against Snow (Maggie Cheung) following the latter's killing of Broken Sword (Tony Leung), the first version of the tale reaches its climax visually and chromatically. The sequence where unnamed and Snow defend the calligraphy school from the deadly arrows of Qin is also a lesson in beautifully coordinating CGI with live-action. The scene where the unnamed and Broken Sword duel on the lake...the list goes on and on.
While the movie is very different from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, fans of that movie should still watch this one. There aren't as many battle scenes, but in terms of epic backgrounds, lush costumes and emotion, this movie matches CTHD. Fans of beautiful imagery in general should watch this, actually. Some reviewers have complained that the end of this film carries with it a pro-communist message, but I feel as though this sentiment is too short-sighted; it is more of an idealistic, large minded-view than it is a communist view. And it reads too much into the intentions of the film. Just sit back and enjoy the movie for what it is: A visual feast with gorgeously choreographed action and a plot to boot.
If you really like it, try to find the full-cut of this movie, which is available for region-1 as a Chinese import. The subtitles aren't as well-done, but there are additional scenes which, while they do not alter the story in any way, add to the general mood and feel of the work substantially in my opinion.
Beautiful movie, 9/10 stars.