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House of Flying Daggers
Metascore
89 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 37 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 36 out of 37
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 37
  3. Negative: 0 out of 37
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  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    100
    Forget about the plot, the characters, the intrigue, which are all splendid in House of Flying Daggers, and focus just on the visuals.
  2. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Wilmington
    100
    It's as thrilling and lushly beautiful a movie as has been released all year, matched only by Zhang's epic "Hero." And I think this film is the more powerful.
  3. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    100
    It's great, fantastical fun.
  4. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jami Bernard
    100
    The most gorgeous movie of the year. This smashing martial-arts romance from Chinese director Zhang Yimou is stunning in other ways, too, like the eroticism that ripples just beneath the surface.
  5. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    100
    The movie equivalent of a 12-course feast crammed with unforgettable images and mind-boggling stunts.
  6. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Steven Rea
    100
    It's action opera, sword-and-sorcery song-and-dance, and it's a heart-pumping, jaw-dropping thrill. OK, so I kind of like the thing.
  7. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Michael Sragow
    100
    By turns breathtaking and heartbreaking.
  8. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    100
    He's (Yimou) like a painter combining bloody reds, sunshine yellows and pale blues in the harmony of a masterpiece.
  9. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Phil Hall
    100
    Quite simply, House of Flying Daggers is a film that sets several new standards for production and entertainment values. It is a wild riot of color, music, passion, action, mystery, pure old-fashioned thrills and even dancing.
  10. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Robert Wilonsky
    100
    Its exquisiteness can overwhelm in a single sitting.
  11. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    100
    House of Flying Daggers finds the great Chinese director at his most romantic in this thrilling martial arts epic that involves a conflict between love and duty carried out to its fullest expression.
  12. Slate
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    100
    This is the most intoxicatingly beautiful martial arts picture I've ever seen.
  13. Time
    Reviewed by: Richard Corliss
    100
    The cast list is like a convocation of the Three Chinas: Taiwan's Kaneshiro, Hong Kong's Lau and the mainland's Zhang Ziyi. All are terrific, but the lady shines brightest.
  14. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    100
    An astonishing combination of spectacle, suspense, martial-arts flash, sublime silliness, anti-gravity action and passionate intensity -- before and after everything else, it's a grand love story.
    All this critic's reviews
  15. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    100
    Chinese director Zhang Yimou understands perfectly that the small can be epic and awe-inspiring. And, by the way, he knows how to get big, too.
  16. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Stephen Hunter
    100
    The sheer joy of letting go as a tale overwhelms your senses and drives the known world away -- that's the story.
  17. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    100
    Zhang weaves in both thrilling martial-arts set pieces and stunning studies of period silk tapestry and costume.
  18. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    91
    An outrageously gorgeous spectacle of balletic aggression. At the same time, it offers something we rarely encounter in a whirling martial-arts extravaganza: a romantic passion that's woven into the very fabric of the action.
  19. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    90
    A glorious new addition to martial-arts cinema.
  20. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Kimberley Jones
    89
    I don't know if the many plot swerves withstand a second viewing, but I suspect the meat of the matter – the swooning visuals, the expert choreography, the teasing love story – does.
  21. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    88
    Forget "Hero" -- that cult hit was just Zhang Yimou's warm-up for this martial-arts fireball that throws in a lyrical love story, head-spinning fights and dazzling surprises.
  22. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    88
    The result is one of the most visually astonishing martial-arts fantasies ever made.
  23. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    83
    The second action melodrama released in the United States this year by director Zhang Yimou, and if I prefer the previous one, "Hero," it's partly a matter of degrees.
  24. Empire
    Reviewed by: Dan Jolin
    80
    This is how action movies should be made.
  25. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: David Chute
    80
    The most seamless piece of sensuous expressionism Zhang has created since "Ju Dou" (1990).
  26. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Dana Stevens
    80
    A gorgeous entertainment, a feast of blood, passion and silk brocade. But though the picture is full of swirling, ecstatic motion, it is not especially moving.
  27. Variety
    Reviewed by: Derek Elley
    80
    The tangled tale of love and disguise is awesome in its action sequences but doesn't touch the heart to the same degree.
  28. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: Anthony Lane
    80
    You feel wiped and blinded by such ravishment, yet a voice within you asks: Come on, guys, can't you just stop for the holidays?
  29. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    75
    It's a perfect example of how far production design and editing WON'T take you when the story's not there.
  30. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    75
    If you think "Hero" is a sumptuous film, prepare to be blown away by House of Flying Daggers.
  31. Premiere
    Reviewed by: Glenn Kenny
    75
    All told, while the goods that Daggers offers are choice, the movie ultimately demonstrates that too much can be, well, more than enough.
  32. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Liam Lacey
    75
    Actors Zhang Ziyi and Takeshi Kaneshiro are the kind of startlingly good-looking, glamorous stars that evoke classic Hollywood adventure films.
  33. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    70
    This film pivots on a romantic triangle as overwrought as it is stylized. It's like a Douglas Sirk melodrama ratcheted up with fists of fury and wrapped in apparently endless yards of shimmering silk.
  34. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Keith Phipps
    70
    Choreographed to the last beat, the action scenes have a depth that the film's thinly sketched characters never quite develop.
  35. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Michael Atkinson
    70
    If only this epic had enough substantial melodramatic hooks to hang this woman's beauty on; emotional traction is most often buried under acres of carefully coordinated vistas and CGI-hued flora.
  36. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: William Arnold
    67
    It's exuberant, exhilarating, poetic and -- intentionally and not -- rather silly.
  37. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Carla Meyer
    50
    Beautiful but hollow.
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User Reviews

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User Score
7.8 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 164 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 63 out of 95
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 95
  3. Negative: 16 out of 95
  1. PhillipR.
    10
    I am not a film buff and don't normally have much time for watching films, but this one just grabbed me and kept me enthralled. The twists and turns of the story are mesmerizing and the beauty of Mei is captivating. The depiction of the Martial Art fighting leaves you in awe, even if a little unbelievable. The closing scenes of fighting and death leave you emotionally drained. Fantastic… Full Review »
  2. imthenoob
    8
    I really liked it but the only problems I had with the film is that it failed to show what happend to the rebel group (House of the Flying Daggers) and the action scenes could have been better. Still a solid film though, Definently worth the watch.… Full Review »
  3. Kilcoe
    3
    Another pretentious movie made by Zhang. Since Hero, he completed lost everything. The only good thing about this movie is Takeshi Kaneshiro - the ultimate eye candy. He was the only thing that kept me on my seat. The plot does not make sense, especially in the eyes of Mandarin speaking audiences. Pure Nonsense! Plus cringe-worthy dialogues and the flying daggers ... what an embarrassment, even we (who are so used to unreal martial art sequences) found it too much to bear.… Full Review »
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