House of Flying Daggers

After Director Ang Lee opened the doors for Asian epic stories with the magnificent Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, other masterful director, Yimou Zhang, decided to make a few and so in 2004 we've been honored with two true masterpieces. First was Jet Li's Hero, which I though was kind of slow paced, but the cinematography was just so beautiful that it was impossible not to love. That movie was originally released in 2002 (when it was an Oscar Nominee for Best Foreign Film), so since then, he worked hard to bring us a (hardly to image) better movie in House of Flying Daggers.

We follow the story of Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and Leo (Andy Lau), police captains, and friends, during the end of the Ming Dynasty in China. They learn that the new dancer at the local brothel, a blind girl named Mei (Zhang Ziyi), is supposedly a member of a revolutionary organization called The House of Flying Daggers.
After arresting her, Jin and Leo plan to use her so she can lead them to the Flying Daggers and they can take the General's troops and fight them. For this, Jin rescues her from jail and faking to be on her side, they embark on a journey north through the country in search of the revolutionaries while Leo follows close behind with the troops.

After an amazingly choreographed dance sequence, beautifully colorful battle sequences with spectacular effects, and a wonderful and brilliant climatic fight for love, House of Flying Daggers is a marvel not to be missed.