| This film is bizarre, but I suppose that isn�t surprising as Western audiences are not used to wushu films, with the exception of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I would try and impart some of what is going on in the film but it would be kind of hard. Most of the film is told in flash-back, and more than once with the story changing each time around. The film begins with Nameless (Jet Li) arriving at the palace of the King of Qin as he has killed three of the most dangerous assassins fighting against the King. The King wants to know how a simple prefect has managed to accomplish such a task, and so the flash-backs begin. First time through is all fine and dandy, but the King does not believe Nameless� story, and so decides to tell it for himself. So the second round begins. This complete, Nameless agrees with the King that his initial story is not true, but that the King�s version too, is not quite right, and so the third round commenceth.
All of this �story� seems filler for the fight scenes within the film, which are truly mind-blowing and beautiful to behold. Another aspect of the film that I thoroughly enjoyed was the way in which the costumes of the characters changed depending on which version of the story was being told. The scenery is spectacular and due to the relative lack of dialogue, the English subtitles are not distracting or difficult to cope with. One thing that you should note is that as the genre is wushu some of the fight scenes are not realistic with quite a lot of wire-work. I had some really annoying people sitting next to me not quite clicking that it was meant to look like it does. I hate people that talk in cinemas.
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