I really can't say much about the story of this film, because honestly I often was unclear on what was happening. There are a lot of people and organizations in conflict plus random fights, although the last part settles into a straightforward rescue movie. Perhaps, since there is some historical basis for this film, it is relying on the Chinese audience being able to fill in the gaps?
While muddled as a whole, individual scenes are quite entertaining. The movie has a sprightly, light-hearted start, introducing some amusing characters.
There's a lot of very entertaining fight choreography, including a terrific bit with an umbrella that would do Jackie Chan proud. Unfortunately the movie's fight gimmicks don't always work; there's a long fight involving ladders in which the ladders where you can't see why the fighters are so found of using them.
Jet Li, the star of this, has been in some of my favorite martial arts films (Hero, Forbidden Kingdom, Unleashed) and I'm always hoping to find something else great with him, so I was excited to hear this was a "martial arts classic." But it's really just okay overall, with a solid start and end but a rather mushy middle.
While muddled as a whole, individual scenes are quite entertaining. The movie has a sprightly, light-hearted start, introducing some amusing characters.
There's a lot of very entertaining fight choreography, including a terrific bit with an umbrella that would do Jackie Chan proud. Unfortunately the movie's fight gimmicks don't always work; there's a long fight involving ladders in which the ladders where you can't see why the fighters are so found of using them.
Jet Li, the star of this, has been in some of my favorite martial arts films (Hero, Forbidden Kingdom, Unleashed) and I'm always hoping to find something else great with him, so I was excited to hear this was a "martial arts classic." But it's really just okay overall, with a solid start and end but a rather mushy middle.