Delicately put together

Rating: 8/10 (16 June 2011)

When China was at war with itself and one king attempted to conquer all of it, a nameless man comes to him claiming to have killed the three assassins that have tried to take him out. This shows the Asian love of flowing movement(clothes, hair, leaves), a respect of natural elements and a poetry to the movements and choreography of martial arts. It is beautiful, and at the same time, the action is very cool. There is careful use of slow-motion and close-ups. The story has twists and is thoroughly engaging, and the structure is somewhat like Kurosawa's Rashomon, with the truth being revealed gradually, over time, as different stories are told. This is presented as a legend, and how much of it is true is unclear. That gives it a level of freedom that it uses rather well. Several of the laws of physics take a bit of a backseat to the splendor of the fights(and we get at least one battle that I've never seen equalled). The plot is inspirational, if not everyone will agree with the moral. This has pretty good acting, if Li remains unemotional even when it seems like he should express something. There is a little blood and suggested sexuality in this. I recommend this to fans of the genre. 8/10