3/4  Excellent Use of Color
I first saw this movie for an Architecture History class, and what really struck me was the use of color as a way to support the mood of the scenes. The color and density of the background, along with other visual cues, did as much for th... (read full)

2/4  House of Flying Daggers Quick Review
It was way better than I thought. Worth a watch if you like films in the Crouching Tiger vein.

3/4  House of Flying Daggers Quick Review
Better than CTHD with the same style of combat. The plot had some nice twists and turns and the battles were more engaging. Must see if you like martial arts movies that are almost supernatural.

2.5/4  House of Flying Daggers Quick Review
I would say this is the weakest out of the Hong Kong action films that I have seen - but you can't deny the beauty of the choreography and use of color for which it is worth it to watch at least once.

2/4  House of Flying Daggers Quick Review
Along the lines of CTHD, HoFD is not nearly as good. Using the same style of fighting and even some of the same actors, I was expecting more. I think now, this movie may have ruined my expectations for these Hong Kong style films. Average.

5/5 Beautiful
  by aaron medeiros
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...

5/5 What can I say? It's a beautiful film.
  by Eric S. Kim (Southern California)
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.

5/5 A Beautiful Blu-ray Experience
  by Crashlanding
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.

1/5 terrible quality
  by elfufu (san francisco)
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.

5/5 beautiful, sexy, intriguing, and good fight scenes
  by Make it Funny (San Francisco, CA)
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!