Film offers a new aspect in beauty and storytelling

Rating: 8/10 (15 January 2005)

Starting with Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" cinema has a new genre to deal with and even though we have all seen martial arts films before the way they are now made has become so visually stunning that even those who are not fans will be hearing more about them. The story here revolves around a nameless assassin (Jet Li) who has come to the King of Qin (Chen Daoming) with his version of how he killed the three assassins that have attempted the Kings life. Nameless starts out 100 yards from the King but as his story is scrutinized he is allowed to get closer until he is only 10 yards away which may or may not be what he wants.
*****SPOILER ALERT***** The story involving the 3 assassins are shown in flashbacks with Broken Sword (Tony Leung) working in calligraphy that he believes helps him in sword battles. Assassin number two is his mistress Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung) and Long Sky (Donnie Yen) being the third and since Nameless knows of their skills he uses psychology to try and defeat them. Broken Sword has an apprentice named Moon (Zhang Ziyi) that figures into the circle and adds to Flying Snow's suspicion of her so-called colleagues.
Zhang Yimou has made a film that is clearly reminiscent of Kurasawa's "Rashomon" in the manner of the narrative with the characters giving different accounts to what may have happened with the three assassins. Yimou's films are different from anything else that I have ever seen and from the ballet-like martial arts to the beautiful uses of color his films are elevated from casual viewing to being a movie going experience. Li is exceptionally well cast and reminds everyone why he became such a big star in his country and the ease in which he performs some of the martial arts sequences is very evident. There are so many breathtaking scenes that take place that it would be impossible to describe them all but it's hard to shake the images of the battles like the one on the surface of the lake, the leaves blowing in the forest, the green sheets hanging from all sides, and the storm of arrows raining down. If I have to quibble it would be the confusion of what story is true and which one's are not but aside from that this is one of those visually stunning films that helps open the door even wider for a new style in the martial arts genre and gives proof that Yimou is one of the worlds more talented directors.