What It's About:

In 859 A.D., Tang dynasty enforcers Leo (Lau) and Jin (Kaneshiro) set out to foil a revolutionary faction known as Flying Daggers. With only a sketchy lead on the rebels’ whereabouts, the duo soon find their solitary hope for crushing the rebellion may lie in Mei (Ziyi), a gorgeous blind dancer with a superhuman mastery of the martial arts.

Why I Love It:

In a word, Yimou’s high-flying action epic is stunning. Here, he pairs all the visual pageantry of his “Raise the Red Lantern” with the jaw-dropping acrobatics of “Hero” and creates a beautiful, thrilling, and often sorrowful martial-arts showpiece that nearly tops his previous efforts. It helps, of course, to have the talents of Chinese superstars Lau and Kaneshiro on hand, not to mention the truly ethereal allure of Ziyi, to advance the plot-heavy narrative, which hinges on love and betrayal. Amid its dazzling hailstorm of arrows and whirling cutlasses, this “House” is solid.