Ziyi Zhang Movie:

		List Price: $14.94		Label: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Salesrank: 23825 Released: April 19, 2005
		Our Price: $4.11
		Used Price: $2.70
		MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Media: UMD for PSP

Editorial Review:
Watch movies on your PSP handheld with DVD picture quality inwidescreen. This full length movie fits on a single UMD disc.An exotic blind dancer finds herself torn between the loyalties oflove and honor as she fights acrobatic warriors in the treetops inbattles the likes of which have never before been seen.* Starring: Takeshi Kaneshiro Zhang Ziyi Andy Lau Tak-wah Song Dandan. -- SPECIFICATIONs -----------------------------------MPAA Rating: PG13Genre : Martial Arts Period FilmTheatrical Date : 2004Run Time : 119 MinutesDistributor/Studio: Sony Pictures www.sonystyle.com

Description of House of Flying Daggers [UMD for PSP]:
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 [UMD for PSP] Reviews:
Phenomenal Story, Beautifully Told
2008-12-23 - Absolutely beautiful cinematography, as most know but the truly great thing about this movie is the way the characters develop. The emotional journeys of the three main characters are extremely compelling and in the end, they are each true to the character they have developed throughout. There is no fairy-tale ending and questions remain, which is one of its great strengths. Definitely worth owning and watching again and again.

One negative comment, though: there are several scenes where a rape or sex is initiated (but interrupted) and it feels contrived because they are all nearly identical and about half seem unnecessary to the plot.

Exquisite cinematic beauty, outstanding directing!!!
2008-11-28 - Prepare to be overwhelmed with the stunning cinematography of this film. The plot is well developed, the acting is flawless, and the actors are definitely easy on the eyes! This would have been a 5 star movie had the ending been a little less predictable. Once you know who everyone REALLY is, you know exactly which character is going to be killed off. But even knowing that, you will still be holding your breath, right to the teary-eyed end, hoping that you are wrong this time...

A Beautiful Film
2008-11-11 - House of Flying Daggers is one of the most visually stunning films I've ever watched. The color, the fight choreography, the tragic love story -- I love this from beginning to end! I've watched it several times, and just the visual impact alone has never ceased to amaze me. I highly recommend, especially for fans of this genre.

House of Flying Daggers
2008-10-04 - This movie is a wonderful experience to watch. It's sublime, passionate and has many moments that inspire the heart to sing. I love the Chinese culture and found this movie like stepping into a cool pond of water - it awakened all my senses.

I highly recommend it.

The film is enjoyable, but the Blu-Ray transfer is worthless
2008-08-24 - This was one of the Blu-Ray discs that I bought at the same time I bought my player, as I was guessing that the vibrant colors of this film would look great in HD. Unfortunately, there is so much film grain and visual noise that I had to drastically reduce the backlight and the color saturation on my LCD in order to make it less distracting. But this eliminated the primary artistic virtue of the film: its colorful palette. If this had been what Blu-Ray had to offer, I would have returned the player immediately, as I had seen better picture quality from upscaled DVDs and from HD downloads in 720p. Thankfully, I was guided towards "I, Robot" and "Ratatouille" and saw what Blu-Ray really has to offer, and it is worth the price of admission. But the shoddy presentation of "House of Flying Daggers" nearly soured me on the whole experience before I really got started.

I rather enjoyed this film on standard-definition cable TV when I first saw it. The colors are marvelous, the fight scenes are fluid, and the plot is simple but effective. The main character, Wind, is kind of a jerk at first, but he grows on you a little by the end. I would describe the acting as competent, even a bit above-average for what you'd expect. For a foreign language film, we English-speaking viewers need decent acting through facial expressions and body language, and there's enough here to adequately serve the story.

I don't know what equipment was used to shoot this film, but I hope that a great transfer could be done one day when Blu-Ray has settled into its place as the dominant disc format. This is the type of film that has great potential as an HD viewing experience, but it hasn't come close to realizing that quite yet. If you have and enjoy the DVD of this movie, I would recommend against buying the Blu-Ray at this time.