《十面埋伏》英文影评
Here are some reviews about the movie House of Flying Daggers.

1.China's great movie directors change focus

By Cai Shangyao(蔡尚耀)

Zhang Yimou is considered to be one of the best directors of our time.Zhang Yimou did an excellent job as the cinematographer on the movie "Huang Tudi"(Yellow Earth),and his debut as a director on the movie "Hong Gaoliang"(Red Sorghum) won him many awards and established him as a leading member of the so-called Fifth Generation Movement of Chinese Movie-makers”.

Considering his creative camera work and direction,it must be said that Zhang is a movie genius of world stature,and the pride of Chinese movie-goers.

In interview,foreign students from 10 countries said that of all Chinese movie directors they knew only Zhang Yimou,and they mentioned such movies as "Red Sorghum", "Qiuju Da guansi"(The Story of Qiuju),and "Huozhe"(To Live)

They said they felt the tremor of life's force in "Red Sorghum",and were deeply moved by "Huozhe"(To Live)

They also had seen "Yingxiong"(Hero),but made no comment about it.

In fact,people talked  mostly about the images and colors of “Hero” when discussing the movie as if they were talking about the work of the cinematographer rather than the director .

I have long been following Zhang's film-making career and as I watched "Shimian maifu"(House of Flying Daggers)I felt a sudden burst of sympathy for him--the sympathy one feels for a hero at the end of a movie.I then recalled the rain that poured on the night of celebration and the sudden blizzard that descended when the cast and crew were filming the movie in the Ukraine.I couldn't help wondering if  Zhang Yimou had shown us a glimpse of the retreating form of a tragic hero.

"House of Flying Daggers" has been bombarded with criticism in both the media and online BBS discussion forums since its release in China , many viewers have expressed great dissastifaction with the movie.

The criticism mirrors the difficulty caused by the commercialization of the movie industry in China.When Zhang Yimou and other Fifth-Generation directors first began making movies they rebelled against making commercial movies,openly rejecting conventional movie notions of  story-telling and character development.

Their movie-making style gave the group of Fifth-Generation directors fame and glory.Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige were the two directors who gained fame ,but in recent years they have unknowingly or unconsciously abandoned their previous styles in favour of  the traditional storytelling movies.

Perhaps Zhang Yimou back in the days when he was making "Red sorghum" never realized that some day he would be getting into commercial movie making. 

After making of "Yige dou buneng shao "(Not One Less) and "Xingfu shiguang" (Happy Times),Zhang Yimou became commercial.

Zhang's reputation as a Fifth-Generation director no longer protect him and his “surrender” to commercial cinema could be seen as a self-imposed challenge.

The Chinese movie industry can only succeed with commercial movies. Zhang's foray into this form of movie-making is a reflection of some directors' renunciation of their former mode of filming.Zhang Yimou is marching in the vanguard and setting an example.His success or failure should serve as a warning to us that Making a commercial movie is not as easy as we think it is.

2..House of Flying Daggers

From Jurgen Fauth （贾根·佛斯）

Zhang Yimou has tasted blood. Following his surprise hit "Hero," the first martial arts movie by the Chinese auteur best known for his tasteful dramas, Yimou is back with another wire-fu adventure full of gorgeously photographed fights and overblown melodrama. And once again, the former art house darling appears lost.

If you thought the fight scenes in "Hero" were the greatest thing you've ever seen, you will find plenty to like in "House of Flying Daggers." There is a dancing game that involves hitting a circle of drums with overlong sleeves, there's a fight in a field of wild flowers, and of course, there is the inescapable crossing of swords while flitting around a bamboo forest.

The actors are as pretty as the locations, cinematography, and choreography. Zhang Ziyi is beautiful and aloof, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Andy Lau, some of the biggest stars of current Asian cinema, have movie-star perfect looks, but we never get much of a sense of any of the characters before they're off killing armies of charging soldiers and each other. Their prowess with the sword has to stand in for characterization.

"House of Flying Daggers" is most enjoyable when it plays as a romantic comedy between the mysterious escaped prisoner Mei (Ziyi) and Jin (Kaneshiro), a policeman who wins her trust in order to infiltrate the Robin-Hood-like organization that gives the film its title. After a series of confusing surprises and double-crosses, the movie tips into melodrama, with endless overwrought moments of departure and return -- the heroes seem to be leaving and coming back to each other more times than I could count. This involves many shots of horses in slow motion.

Finally, it becomes clear that all Zhang Yimou really wants to do is stage beautiful death scenes. "Hero" had more than I could count, and he doesn't hold back here, either. Too bad it all feels generic. It's impossible to shake the feeling that Zhang Yimou desperately wishes he, not Ang Lee, had made "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Unfortunately, his narrative doesn't have any of that movie's zing. The next logical step for Yimou is to give up on plot altogether and simply film sword fights and death scenes set to haunting Chinese music. MTV might be interested.