Product Description

Ziyi Zhang, Andy Lau, Takeshi KaneshiroDirector: Yimou Zhang

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6897 in DVD
• Brand: Blu-ray World Cinema
• Released on: 2008-10-06
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: Mandarin Chinese, English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds
• Running time: 124 minutes

Synopsis
Following up his award-winning martial-arts drama HERO, director Zhang Yimou (JU DOU, RAISE THE RED LANTERN) tells an intricately detailed love story in the swordfighting epic HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, set during the final days of the Tang Dynasty. A mysterious group called the Flying Daggers is a dangerous threat to the government, so police captain Leo (Andy Lau) sends his right-hand man, Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro), undercover to try to find the rebels' location. Jin, a notorious playboy, pretends he is a roving warrior called 'Wind' and befriends Mei (Ziyi Zhang), a blind dancer who is believed to be the daughter of the former leader of the Daggers. As he leads her across the countryside, they are 'attacked' by government soldiers--but these battles are staged by Leo in order to convince Mei that Jin is on her side. But when a general orders that Mei must be captured at any cost, the fighting turns real, and Jin must decide between his loyalty to his job and his growing love for Mei. Meanwhile, Mei battles her feelings for Jin as well, trying to hide her true self. Zhang's gorgeous, compelling film is filled with beautiful singing and dancing, marvellous costumes, and wonderful locations; the scene in the Bamboo Forest is unforgettable, as is the Echo Game, which Leo and Mei play in the Peony Pavilion. There are also twists throughout the film and by the time the end comes, audiences will be spinning their heads in awe and amazement at the never ending wonders of this special movie. The film is dedicated to Anita Mui, who was to have a starring role before her unexpected death.

Customer Reviews

Awful blu-ray transfer.
The movie is wonderful, of course, but this is about the blu-ray. This is probably the worst blu-ray transfer I have ever seen. Lack of detail, faded colors, and those horizontal light and dark lines that made me stop watching after 10 minutes. For the time being, I stick with the DVD version, and sincerely advise not to bother to see this particular blu-ray version.

house of the flying daggers
its hard to believe that a film as good as this only looks slightly better than the dvd, the print is fine but the image is soft, really makes you glad to invest money in bluy ray and get a tweaked dvd.

Top film...disappointing transfer
Having watched Flying Daggers again a few weeks ago on DVD for the first time since switching over to HD, I found myself noticing how awful the picture looked so given that the film itself is excellent I though it would warrant upgrading to Blu. Given the quality of the other BD's in my collection I was disappointed by the transfer they've done on this title. It just doesn't look HD. It maybe an older title but given what the studios managed with, say The Shining, the same effort hasn't been put in here.

To someone who doesn't already own it on DVD, I totally recommend it but if you do already own it I'll say don't bother with the upgrade unfortunately.