I’d already seen _Hero_, so going into this I knew I could expect mindblowing action and visuals. I wasn’t disappointed in that regard, it’s one amazing set piece after the other and they’re all filled with innovative stunts, precise editing, fantastic camerawork and lots of creative ideas. Sure, the cartoonish nature is sometimes pushed a little too far and some of the CGI isn’t great, but the action is overall excellent. The use of colour, especially green, really stands out. I love how you can tell they took some minor influence from _Lord of the Rings_ with some of the shots. The score is also beautiful. However, I’m not entirely om board with the romance and character work. The way the film treats rape and expects the audience to still stay on board with the character who commits it is very strange. This isn’t just a flawed character, he’s (in my eyes) impossible to root for. It also makes the Mei character seem weak by how she keeps falling for this person over and over again. It was all getting to a point where the film started to lose me in the third act, which is where it really zooms in on the love triangle and characters. It redeems itself with a pretty great final fight, even though I wasn’t emotionally engaged because I couldn’t care less who would end up on top.

6/10