... because the story is very bad. I mean, it starts out fine, but the characters are basically every other wuxia movie cliché, and then at the end the story devolves altogether into one hot mess and badly done CGI soup. Accusations of plagiarism aside, this movie is just not good at all.

Really love this movie!!! :D It has all the wonderful elements I like about martial arts movie - An excellent plot, beautiful scenery, wonderful martial arts choreography and throw in some well done humor and you've got an excellent movie. I really liked the actress who played the evil empress - there was a lot of depth to her character. It was correctly paced and I never felt bored watching the movie. As a martial artist, I really appreciated the choreography. The fighting scenes were exciting to watch and reminded me of the good old days before crouching tiger hidden dragon where there was less flying moments. This choreography has a good mix of both.Overall, I'm so happy I got to watch this movie and as soon as it comes out in DVD I'm going to buy it for all my friends and family :D Also, I really liked the message in this movie. Unfortunately, I can't state what it is or it's be a spoiler. ^_^

If story telling is an important element for movies such as this one, then the script writer and the director have failed miserably in this category. The lack of continuity and characters development made the film unbearable at some points and extremely boring at others. The acting is adequate but not believable at various crucial scenes. The camera techniques/angles are above average. The costumes are much better than other Vietnamese movies of the same genre. The fighting sequences meet international standard, but sadly, without any originality. Every martial arts moves and every use of weapons (from swords to sabers, from staffs to spears, from bows and arrows to daggers… ) can be seen taken from or modeled after other famous Chinese martial arts movies such as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Curse of the Golden Lotus, Hero, House of Flying Dagger, etc… especially, in the use of wire work (or "wire fu" as it is known) and several grand scale scenes. In fact, action coordinator Johnny Tri Nguyen can be mistakenly identified as either a student or a prodigy of the famous action coordinator/director/actor Woo-ping Yuen, Tsu Hark, or Jet Li. On the same track, even with the best categories for the movie are art direction and cinematography also somehow can be seen as a copy of those Chinese movies mentioned above. This movie is more of a Chinese movie than a Vietnamese one. Another irritation factor is the unnatural voices of the actors and actresses with awkward talking scenes which can cause the audience to cringe at most conversations in the movie. This is a critical weak link in every Vietnamese movie. Vietnamese people don't talk like that in real life, why do they talk like that in movies is unthinkable. Is it because the Vietnamese so used to watching Vietnamese dubbed Chinese movies with that kind of annoying and clumsy voice over that it's become a norm to them? After all, this movie is like a book with its beautiful cover, print works, but its content is filled with terrible writing and clichés; pleasing to the eyes but not much for the mind. Epic?… it certainly is not!… But, it's a watchable movie for a lazy day with nothing better to do.

Young Nguyen Vu (Huynh Dong) is brought to the home of a monk after his entire family is killed at the order of the Queen, Thai Hau (Van Trang), who suspects the Nguyen family of assassinating her husband who happened to have died while in their home. The monk trains young Nguyen Vu in wuxia (the Chinese type of martial arts that one sees in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" - all floating through the air and walking up walls) and when he is old enough, tells him who he really is. This sets Nguyen Vu on the road to avenge his family's name; along the way, he meets Hoa Xuan (Mi Du) and her older sister Hoa Ha (Kim Hien), who have their own, very similar, reasons for wanting to destroy Thai Hau. They have many opponents, of course, including a bald-headed scar-faced man who appears to do Thai Hau's bidding but really is in league with another aspirant to the throne. And all of them are in search of the possibly non-existent blood letter, a letter written in blood by a dying eunuch who knew all the secrets of the royal household at the time of the Nguyen family's fall and the Queen's rise. How the two sisters and Nguyen Vu meet their challengers, and what fates await them, is all in God's hands, according to Nguyen Vu's mentor, but perhaps he can create some of his own fate....This is Vietnam's first foray into the realm of epic historical martial arts film, and while there is little that is new here, there is much to enjoy. First of all, the storyline is fairly clean (as these films go, anyway) and, while derivative, the action sequences are extremely well executed. In addition, the beauty of the Vietnamese countryside is given ample scope - by turns lush and harsh, beautiful and treacherous, this is an absolutely stunning film visually. One finds oneself caught up in the story to the extent of cheering when the hero wins a fight and booing when the bad guys turn up. There are some terrific fantasy sequences thrown into the mix, as at the very beginning when a statue of a lion/dragon in the monk's courtyard comes to life and the monk must battle it to return it to its stone state, and towards the very end when Nguyen Vu finds himself battling his foe on a lake or river, gathering his strength for one last push against his oppressor. Even the evil Queen becomes somewhat more sympathetic towards the end, which I felt was a very nice, humanizing, touch. I wouldn't list this film among the very best of its kind, but I *would* buy it should it appear in DVD form in the future, as it was quite entertaining and very beautiful to look at.