As I walked into this movie, I was expecting Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, just without all that pesky romance stuff. That's not quite what I got.
Don't get me wrong; this is first and foremost an action movie. It's not quite all, though. The cinematography on this movie makes the film. There's the usual wire stunts and high flying fighting, but the visuals are just stunning. The story is told in flashbacks, with each flashback being a distinct color (starting with black, then to red, yellow, blue, green, ending in white). Thanks to IMDB's trivia on the movie (warning — spoilers), I understand the symbology a little better. The distinct color shifts make each segment of the film, propelling the story right along.
The plot of the movie is rather engaging, dealing with one of the formative times in Chinese history. How much the film is based on history, I couldn't tell you (although I'll make the guess of just some bare bones outlines and not much more). I'd say that this is a good matinee movie. Watch time :47.
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