Dan said:
I read somewhere that the subtitles get a little annoying, because it is a VERY visual film, and most of the dialogue is spoken quickly, so you have to read quickly, but you're also compelled to look at the screen. Might work better on video, in that respect.
But, for me, a big action movie, like this appears to be, will always be better in theaters. .
OK, I went and saw it. The same day as this thread started in fact, a few hours after my post about being amazed it was already out. I just haven't gotten around to reviewing it, but I suppose I have a few minutes now.
It bears many similarities to
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (CTHD), and in summation I believe if you liked that you'll like this. I will also use CTHD as a basis of comparison in this review.
Subtitles are subtitles. You'd like to see the play on peoples face when they deliver lines, but you have to read the dialogue. There is a fair amount of dialogue in this film, and compared to CTHD I'd say the dialogue is more important as the plot is more complex and the ideas expressed are more important.
All the same, like CTHD, the characters know when to shut up and fight. There are many fight scenes between a variety of combinations of characters, From the Nameless Hero (Jet Li), to the three assassins, Broken Sword, Flying Snow, and Sky, to the King and of course the most beautiful woman on Earth, Zhang Ziyi, who unfortunately has a much smaller role than she did in CHTD.
As expected the widescreen visuals of Chinese landscapes are incredible. From desert, to mist enshrouded valleys, the landscape itself is a character, which is appropriate considering China itself is one of the important themes of the movie.
The plot is much more complex than CTHD, but not so complicated that it is difficult at all to follow. It's interesting that Tarantino's name appears as the "presenter", whatever that means, because the timeline of the movie moves constantly back and forth, with variations each time, somewhat like Tarantino's style. Though not quite.
There is also alot of color symbology, but not being chinese I couldn't fathom what it all meant.
I'm not going to explain anymore than to say the movie is not quite how I expected it to be. Not at all. Just the same, I liked it.
