What does "The Joe Review" mean? 2 things: 1. I'm extremely pompous and believe that something with my name attached to it actually means something, and 2. You're not going to hear the same things the other 20 to 30 (in this case almost 300!) reviewers said over and over again, you're just going to hear whether or not I liked it and why or why not.

This movie was okay. One of the better movies of the year. The movie was in Chinese with English subtitles and I think that was a good move - it made it appear more authentic. And speaking of authentic, there was beautiful scenery, architecture, costumes, and music all through the movie. Detail detail detail, I'm always harping on it and it came through in this movie.

Have you ever seen martial artists literally fly??? I hadn't before this movie! I mean Bruce Lee used to have a 20 foot vertical leap but he could never remain suspended in air! There's even one scene where 2 people fight from the tops of trees!

This is your typical Oriental martial arts movie. A precious sword is stolen and insults the honor of a bunch of people so they have to fight to get it back. A little girl is corrupted to use the evil side of martial arts and there's question as to whether she can ever be swayed back to good. Star Wars meets Jackie Chan maybe?

My only complaints were that there was nothing in this movie I'd never seen before (except the flying!) and that it was too slow. There were only like 4 or 5 short martial arts scenes with too much drama drawn out. Don't get me wrong I appreciate attention to detail in a script but there was actually a little too much of it this time.

But I'd recommend it to anyone who likes classic Oriental "You've stolen my sword and must therefore die at its blade" movies.

Recommended:
Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older