the trailer and the poster and the casting and all look promising . sadly and the storyline be one heck of a convoluted one and and i hate to use the word and but absurd be what the promise be . this be a fantasy picture a promote and and true enough and it be and so much that you have to leave your brain at the door . in try to sound intelligent and the plot fumble and end up really unconvincing . it all style and little substance . to associate this with martial art film be to insult the genre and and one shouldn not even mention this film nor compare it to ang lee crouch tiger and hidden dragon . it time filmmaker wake up to the idea that cthd be a one off that can not be replicate . do not try to go one up by have character fly faster and high and hard . or run so fast they can break the space time continuum and time travel . science fiction this be not . yet and you can not fault the cinematography and which seem beautiful and until a closer scrutiny make it so obvious that it cgi create . think storm rider special effect in the creation of it world and there be no improvement in the refinement of graphic in the promise after so many year . do this mean that only the west can come up with believable cgi world for audience . plot loophole be abound and and you can drive a horde of run bull right through it . you also get the usual villain driven soliloquy at the finale explain his grudge he unbelievably hold for so long ( and the length he go to settle it ) and and some homosexual undertone in one of the minor character too . hip . guess not . what fail in plot delivery be have drag on what be obvious to the audience ( but not to a character ) for too long . in fact and almost the entire length of the movie . it weary the audience and and insult the audience intelligence . so what this movie about . it a love triangle of sort and between a princess ( cecilia cheung ) and a general of the crimson army ( japan hiroyuki sanada ) and and his slave kunlun ( korea jang dong gun ) . play the chief villain be nicholas tse and whose pretty boy look probably make his character less threatening . destiny be the run theme of the movie and where each character be destine for certain goal and event and and one in which be set in stone . curse by a fairy when young and the princess be not to find true love and until impossible condition be meet . and the general too be foretold the element lead to his impend death . what start off plotwise and a promising and degenerate into a web of blah which i wince at by just recall it . be there any save grace in the movie . yes and but they be few . look out for the fight involve nicholas tse and where i think his use of the fan a a lethal boomerang be a marvel to watch . cecilia cheung also light up the screen and but not for her act nor the character development though . the editing of a love scene too be uncalled for to get a pg rating and so that more audience could fill the theatre . i reckon the word of mouth for this film will unsettle that . hiroyuki sanada and jang dong gun and i guess and try their best with the flimsily weak storyline to deliver their line in mandarin . good that way too and with the rubbish i hope they do not understand . if there be any movie which fail to live up to it hype and this movie be it and miserably . i be sad to say that this be easily one of the bad film of the year . one more thing and they should have subtitle the opening title explain the background of the movie too and if they want to target non mandarin speak audience . slip shoddy and careless start to a chen kaige disappointment .