House of the Flying Daggers (2004)

[Scott]

HOUSE OF THE FLYING DAGGERS (2004) - Great Chinese martial arts film. They really know how to make a movie. Zhang Ziyi from CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON (2000) and HERO (2002) stars as a member of the House of the Flying Daggers who are fighting against the goverment. The end is a little drawn out, but still a great film.



IRON MONKEY (1993) and KUNG FU HUSTLE (2004) are also very good ones and of coarse most anything with Jet Li. Really like these type films. Pure excellence.

Other rather recent Chinese favorites of mine are TEMPTATION OF A MONK (1993) and THE STORY OF RICKY (1991).



Post Edited (09-04-05 22:16)

[Neville]

Everybody was so hot about "Hero", but although it is a fantastic film I though, after repeated viewings, that  the repetitive structure (several characters explain similar events) was too limiting. I think "House..." is even better, as the flow of the narration is more clasical, and, at the same time, it allows more freedom to the viewer. Fantastic film, among the best of the genre I've ever seen.

[Jim H]

I own the film, have seen it several times, and quite enjoy it.  However, I think the ending leaves something to be desired.  The final duel got to be too...  Silly, I guess, for me.

[Wence]

Scott wrote:

>> Great Chinese martial arts film. They really know how to make a movie.

I can´t agree with you Scott.
"House of the Flying Daggers" is full of superfluous computer FX.
Great chinese martial Arts films are those that were made by using WIREWORK.

CGI destroys the genre of martial arts. CGI is Hollywood-F*** that has more and more influence on eastern cinema.

The same with HERO - I am very disappointed by both movies.

[Jim H]

"I can´t agree with you Scott.
"House of the Flying Daggers" is full of superfluous computer FX.
Great chinese martial Arts films are those that were made by using WIREWORK.

CGI destroys the genre of martial arts. CGI is Hollywood-F*** that has more and more influence on eastern cinema.

The same with HERO - I am very disappointed by both movies."

The CG in HOFD was mostly used for little assists, like the daggers in the air.  All the jumping around, etc, was done using wires.  The CG elements in HOFD were quite minor,  I don't think I understand why they bother you.   It makes a little more sense to me about Hero though.

[Wence]

Jim H wrote:

>>The CG elements in HOFD were quite minor, I don't think I understand why they bother you. It makes a little more sense to me about Hero though.

It´s easy to understand:
Because I am a fan of martial arts films it is important for me that a film of that genre is CGI-free or better: pure wirework.

It´s like with oil - a drop of it contaminates hundreds of litres of water. So even little, unimportant CGI-made scenes contaminate the whole film.

Oh, and there were far more scenes that were made with computer FX than the dagger-scenes. Besides, the scenes with the daggers in the air were total crap...

[Fearless Freep]

Because I am a fan of martial arts films it is important for me that a film of that genre is CGI-free or better: pure wirework.

It´s like with oil - a drop of it contaminates hundreds of litres of water. So even little, unimportant CGI-made scenes contaminate the whole film.


As a martial artist, I feel about the same about wire-work,  Well, sorta. I like the film to be as pure m/a as possible with no wires or augmentation.  Then I can really respect the m/a ability of the actors/stunt people.  Once the wires are in there, well it's still fun to watch but not quite as good.  From there CG doesn't bother me any more

[Wence]

Ok, show me a martial artist that jumps 10 feet high. As long as there is no martial artist that is able to do this (and many other impossible things), the makers of these movies stay dependent on wire-work.

Another point is, that wire-work is used only in unreal, exaggerated scenes. If you like to watch the ability of martial artists, you can do it without problem. Which m/a-director needs wire-work in a standart fighting scene?

[Fearless Freep]

Ok, show me a martial artist that jumps 10 feet high.

None, and that's the point.  Onec you have 'martial arts' fights with people jumping 10 feet in the air then it's no longer kung-fu and it's crossed into a fantasy world where gravity is only half as strong as Earth or something.  I would rather stay in the world where m/a actors/stunt people do true martial arts, but I don't really mind going into that fantasy world either.  Once, I'm there, though, it' doesn't matter to me if I got there through wires or CG or whatever; it's still fantasy and I just enjoy t for the fantasy that it is and don't quibble about how

[Wence]

Wire-work or CGI - that´s not a detail-descussion, that´s no quibbling, especially on a movies phorum.

Maybe they should split the m/a-genre into real and unreal, the latter one further into CGI and CGI-free...

[Fearless Freep]

Maybe they should split the m/a-genre into real and unreal, the latter one further into CGI and CGI-free...

Maybe we should just sit back and enjoy the movie whether it's got wires or CG or little miniature buildings exploding or fake blood and guts falling out or rubber monsters or whatever.  It's all fun, and too much fun to let something like whether some flying daggers are CG or not spoil the fun

[Wence]

I remember some threads on this phorum that were related to "CGI - yes or not?".
To understand my standpoint, you should know that I hate computer effects in movies. And I hate them even more in movies of a genre I like.

[Scott]

Well, a lot of the Hong Kong films are based on martial art legend in China and fantasy is just an extension of that. Then those films created a whole breed (or possible sub-genre) of fantastic martial arts films  we see today.

These newer films have taken on a life of their own with CGI which some how works for this genre at times. As long as they are entertaining that is the main thing. The subject of "real" martial arts can go a long way..................

I'm not a big fan of CGI, but KUNG FU HUSTLE was a lot of fun. How about Buddhist Palm?

[Wence]

Buddhist Palm?

[Scott]

It was called Buddhist Palm (or Buddha Palm) in KUNG FU HUSTLE. This couldn't be done without CGI and fit into the type of film that it is.



Post Edited (09-09-05 21:54)