Got to see a movie yesterday--a rare occasion, given that the last movie I saw was "Day after Tomorrow" six months ago.
Some thoughts on "House of Flying Daggers":
1. Incredible scenery. All during the movie, I kept thinking, "That doesn't look like China..." During my big month-long tour of China back in '82 I saw a lot of pretty places (West Lake, Suchow, etc) but nothing like the meadows and forests depicted in the movie. Then I noticed that it was actually the Ukraine. Fantastic! At least they didn't totally ape the Lord of the Rings stuff and film down in New Zealand.
2. Lord of the Rings stuff: Ok, they did copy (er, were inspired) by the LOTR trilogy. Some of the horseriding shots were reminiscent of the other movie. But I think mostly it was the casting of Kaneshiro (the Japanese Orlando Bloom?), complete with long ponytail and supernatural archery skills.
But I left the theater wanting to train, as always when watching a good m-a flick. Time to dust off those old throwing knives!
Posted by jameshom at December 20, 2004 10:29 AM | TrackBack