As the story is told in a series of flashbacks, it is revealed that
Nameless, a citizen of Zhao was orphaned at a very young age by King
Qin. As he grew up, he had vigorously trained in martial arts and was
determined to take revenge on the king who had assassinated his parents.
As the king was untouchable, Nameless had to come up with a clever plan
to achieve his goal. He made deals with king's three arch enemies who
trusted his skills to get rid off their common enemy 'the king'. Nameless
succeeded in getting into the palace and reach within ten paces of his
intended target, and the king conclude "Swordsmanship's ultimate
achievement is the absence of the sword". Did the king let Nameless
come too close to him? Is it too late to stop him? Will Nameless succeed
in achieving his goal? Only at the end of the movie everything comes
out clear and we could find out what really happened.
The dazzling story teller Zhang Yimou, narrates the story of an unknown
warrior with aesthetic brilliance and lyricism. He masterfully combines
a historical tale with martial arts and epic battle scenes. Throughout
history every country had many unknown warriors who had done great things
for their people and their country but never got any recognition from
anybody. "Nameless" was one such unknown warrior and it was
a very bold step on the part of director Zhang to recognize this "Hero".
He also tries to deliver a message of paradoxical peace through an epic
story. Traditional Chinese cultural elements like music and calligraphy
are very well incorporated into the story.
Jet Li an international superstar, plays Nameless with talent and
charisma. He is an amazing actor and one of the best Kung Fu artists
of modern day China. Rest of the cast presents an excellent performance.
The film on the whole is masterfully designed and executed. Production
design and costumes are splendid. Cinematography of Christopher Doyle
is brilliant. The dazzling and intricate color design and stylized fight
scenes are breathtakingly awesome. Choreography is gorgeous. Even if
you are not a die hard fan of martial art film, you will love this one
in any language and would be left speechless. Thunderous sounds and
prodigious visual work make you feel as if you are really there. It
is a classical movie of timeless Chinese myth.
We rate this movie Very Good.
