I absolutely adore this film. The cinematography is absolutely spectacular, with fantastic use of colour and light in a wide range of settings. The way movement is captured is entrancing, and so much better than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Superb special effects, with scenes which I have found myself repeating as I can never quite believe they are so brilliant. A tale of loyalty and betrayal with a beautiful romantic theme running through it. Makes me cry every time!
This is a visually stunning and surprisingly exciting film. The action is relatively realistic for an Asian film and although the dialogue is a little stilted, the plot has purpose and you realise you do care about the characters. Held me through the whole film.
Not at all what I expected, but there were some incredibly beautiful images presented, and 'Mai' is stunning as a blind ninja. Some of the martial arts moves are somewhat unrealistic, as in The Matrix and Crouching Tiger, but it doesn't seem to matter, the film being something of a mythical tale.