Ziyi Zhang Movie:

Description of House of Flying Daggers [Blu-ray]:
No one uses color like Chinese director Zhang Yimou--movies like Raise the Red Lantern or Hero, though different in tone and subject matter, are drenched in rich, luscious shades of red, blue, yellow, and green. House of Flying Daggers is no exception; if they weren't choreographed with such vigorous imagination, the spectacular action sequences would seem little more than an excuse for vivid hues rippling across the screen. Government officers Leo and Jin (Asian superstars Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro) set out to destroy an underground rebellion called the House of Flying Daggers (named for their weapon of choice, a curved blade that swoops through the air like a boomerang). Their only chance to find the rebels is a blind women named Mei (Ziyi Zhang, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) who has some lethal kung fu moves of her own. In the guise of an aspiring rebel, Jin escorts Mei through gorgeous forests and fields that become bloody battlegrounds as soldiers try to kill them both. While arrows and spears of bamboo fly through the air, Mei, Jin, and Leo turn against each other in surprising ways, driven by passion and honor. Zhang's previous action/art film, Hero, sometimes sacrificed momentum for sheer visual beauty; House of Flying Daggers finds a more muscular balance of aesthetic splendor and dazzling swordplay. --Bret Fetzer

House of Flying Daggers [Blu-ray] Reviews:
Beautiful
2009-11-09 - Similar film style to Hero (which i loved) so i ordered on a whim without any knowledge of the movie. It's story line is much more gripping than hero and the characters are far more interesting. lacked slightly in the intense fight scenes which i was craving but overall a truly beautiful movie. i almost shed a tear...

What can I say? It's a beautiful film.
2009-09-25 - If you enjoyed watching Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Curse of the Golden Flower, and Hero, chances are you'll end up loving House of Flying Daggers as well. What we have here are some colorful set/costume designs like in Golden Flower, top-notch fight sequences that are about equal to Hero, and a powerful love story that can have the same impact like the one that's found in Hidden Dragon. What is so recognizable about this film, however, is the style and overall beauty. It doesn't have all those long shots of nice scenery, but it still has some beautiful shots of a bamboo forest, a meadow, and other environments that are placed in the background whenever the characters are onscreen. The way the environment is perfectly blended in the drama that's occurring at the moment. This is one fine Martial Arts film that not only has fine action, but also some sheer beauty of the way the director shot certain scenes.

So yeah, you've got a compelling plot, fascinating characters (and great performances from the lead actors), gorgeous shots, and some creative choreography all in a two-hour movie. I fully enjoyed it as much as almost everyone else who reviewed it here at Amazon.

A Beautiful Blu-ray Experience
2009-09-10 - As a Blu-ray presentation you won't get much better than this. House of Flying Daggers on Blu-ray is a true HD remaster and you will know that as soon as it starts playing. After being burned myself on some BD releases that were barely upgraded from DVD, you can purchase this one with confidence.

Along with a wonderful picture the disc includes an HD audio track in Chinese. If your system can play HD audio then that's the best way to watch this movie, even if you don't like subtitles. It's terrible that all BD releases don't have a HD audio track because it's really eye opening when you listen to it back to back with the regular 5.1.

There are a few extras, though I don't pay attention to them so you'll have to discover them yourself. This film does not use any BD Live functions that I could find.

If you want an entertaining movie that shows off the best your HDTV can offer then you can't go wrong here.

terrible quality
2009-08-27 - this bluray looks like a dvd scaled up, terrible compression artifacts, what a shame
a movie with such amazing cinematography, production design deserves more, especially considering SOny Released it
which created the bluray format.

beautiful, sexy, intriguing, and good fight scenes
2009-08-24 - I love Zhang Yimou movies. They're beautifully artistic and he always select the right cast. Zhang Ziyi excelled as the seductress and she played a blind heroine convincingly. The costumes are also amazing in this movie. Takeshi Kaneshiro is the hero, and as always, he's hot and gorgeous. He plays the honorable good guy so well my heart melts. This movie has everything! A fantastic plot, great acting, hot hero and heroine, amazing martial arts, and artistry all rolled into one package. Enjoy!