How my fellow martial arts fans can speak so warmly about this movie, even calling it their favourite, and the best martial arts movie ever made, is completely beyond me... :-/ I've watched hundreds of martial arts movies, both new and old, and I'm a huge fan of Donnie Yen, in everything from his classic awesome movies like Iron Monkey, to his newer awesome movies like Flash Point and Ip Man. But c'mon, this movie is clearly rubbish? The fights are nothing but high speed closeups, so you can't really see what is going on most of the time, how is that impressive or cool? I'm really glad Donnie grew out of this kind of movie directing in his later movies (he directed Flash Point, which is pure awesomeness),because this is not how you do fighting in movies, or in real life, for that matter. I couldn't care less about the lame story either. Not a passing grade from me.

Okay, let's start with what's WRONG with this movie: an extraneous framing story, occasionally over-done drama, a "dah dah DAAAAH" soundtrack that won't quite, lack of a major, logically progressing conflict, (just some junk about some bandits) sometimes silly undercranking and the fact that it's basically a "Blade" wannabe. With that said, I'll say this movie is INTENSE! Good scenery and dramatics, (if occasionally overwrought) and ultra-brutal, bloody "YAAAAAAAAH!" type fight scenes as in The Blade. Sure, the undercranking and "flailing limbs in front of faces" shots get a little ridiculous, but it's all so crazy I couldn't help but love it. It's not up there with the better period flicks of '90-'94, but it beats the hell out of a certain other amnesia-themed period movie earlier this year. And you've gotta love a movie that feels like it was only about 45 minutes long.

This movie has gotten a lot of mixed reviews. Some people have praised it and others have called it pure dreck. I really didn't know what to expect from this movie. Well, I found the plot to be slightly confusing. Well, I couldn't figure out what the whole modern day story was about. The flashback told about an amnesiac who returns to a village after WW2 and finds his lost love and some old enemies. A lot of brutal fighting follows.

The fight scenes are the calling card of this film. They're all fast and furious. If you take your eyes of the screen for a second you'll miss some stuff. It's all hyper-stylized, from the camerawork to the exaggerated gunplay and use of projectiles. There's a lot of speeding up, but it actually helps the fighting out; it makes it more intense. The martial arts itself is pretty good. Donnie uses his trademark kicks and also does a fair amount of Bruce Lee impersonating. His fight with the eagle claw guy is just astounding.

There is some fairly disturbing brutality in this film. The slaughter of the village and the scene preceding the final fight are examples. I guess it's supposed to make the movie more powerful.

In the end, I think the great fight scenes overshadow the sometimes confusing narrative and the brutality of the film.