Martial arts movies aren't my cup of tea, but this one caught my attention because of Fan Bing Bing and Huang Xiao Ming. Long story short, this movie is a good time waster and that's about it. The story is a mess, the action is bad, the love story is bland, and the ending is ridiculous. Story: The story was all over the place and most of the time I had no idea what was going on or who was one who's side. There was just so much going on. I was really disappointed because I expected this to be an action movie but instead it was more of a political intrigue movie, and a lame one at that. Now I have nothing against political intrigue, I actually really enjoy it for the most part, but this was just so lame. Things weren't explained properly and it was just so confusing. Maybe if I watched it again it would make more sense and I could get all the characters straight, but honestly for this type of movie a second viewing to understand the plot shouldn't be necessary. Now let's talk about the action. I don't like martial arts movies because most of the time they seem to forget that gravity exists. And let me tell you, the concept of gravity didn't exist in this movie. People were floating around like fairies all the time. Besides that, the action scenes were lack luster and the editing was horrible. I felt no excitement when there was an action scene, which there were very few of, and most of them were during the last 30 minutes. The love story was also noting special. It felt really forced and rushed. I didn't feel much chemistry between the leads which made me not really care about them. The ending was also another huge let down. To be honest, I was so annoyed with this movie at that point that I started laughing at the end because of how awful the editing was. I think it was supposed to be this super tragic and romantic ending, but all it was was laughable and it left me with no answers to what ends up happening to everyone else. The saving graces of this movie were the costumes and the scenery. Both were really pretty and nice to look at. Acting: Acting was good for the most part. The main leads did a good job with the little they were given from the script. Some of the side characters were a little rough around the edges. Music: I don't have much to say here. It fit with the movie but it was nothing memorable. Rewatch value: I won't ever rewatch this. Overall: I guess this movie was a good time waster, if nothing else.