An Indiana Jones inspired martial arts movie. A man and his daughter are searching for some rare artifacts at a secluded temple in the mountains. They run into a rival treasure hunter and nobody is really sure who to trust.

This movie has some nice fight scenes and lots of action. It is a pretty fast paced movie overall, with pauses in between for character development. The characters were pretty interesting though pretty shallow, I was able to guess what happens in the movie early on.

Overall, I got more of a family oriented movie with a simpler plot-line that a younger audience could have enjoyed. It also had more fantasy elements than other movies, and the CG was pretty good.

A fun watch.

This movie was very well made but it isn't anything that it appears to be at first glance. I was expecting a traditional action flick with lots of fight scenes but that was totally incorrect.

To summarize, its a story about assassins who were trained from childhood and what it is like to be a pawn controlled by the crown. Meanwhile, these assassins are assigned to quell a rebellion against the crown and they face a mission that might be too tough for them to complete.

If you have seen the movie "The Last Samurai" this is a similar story. The movie is more about building up to an emotional conclusion than anything else. The story is somewhat cliche and because the characters were very well portrayed I could predict what was going to happen. I was still surprised at some of the plot developments, but there wasn't any big twist to the movie.

The first scene of the movie is a fight scene that suffers from poor executing, including CG that doesn't blend in well and a few camera shots that are poor quality. If you can get past that part, the rest of the movie is very well made.

There is not much fighting in the movie, it is just plot and character development. There is still some action in the later parts of the movie, but it is mostly big battles with lots of explosions going off. The explosions are really well done overall and the final action scene was the best, though it is tempered by the emotional nature of the storyline.

So how good is the acting and storyline then? I would say it is pretty good. There are only 3 main characters that get focused on, and they are all pretty shallow but still interesting to watch on the screen because of the situations they are put in. Wolf, the leader of the rebels, was the most interesting. The two "Royal Guards" did an okay job but the theme of brotherhood was a little overbearing. The female actress, Li Yuchun, has a very small role that is more of a plot hook than a real characterization.

It sounds like a mediocre movie then... doesn't it? Well it is if you want a traditional martial arts movie. If you want a movie about empires and rebellion, about philosophy and standing up for whats right, intrigue and betrayal, politics and racism...a timeless human story... then you will probably enjoy yourself. The costumes, scenery and the picture quality are all excellent and while I got bored at times waiting for the story to advance I would still watch it again.

This movie seems to be inspired by comic books such as X-Men and Fantastic Four. While fantasy martial arts movies typically have some supernatural abilities including jumping really high and very strong or fast movements, this movie is less grounded in reality. There is a psychic girl in a wheelchair, a character who transforms (once) when he is really angry, a character who can create magic fire, and various other powers. This is the main reason why the movie stands out and thankfully the special effects are well done. If this concept sounds interesting to you, you will probably enjoy yourself.

In terms of the storyline, the movie is a fairly standard crime drama/thriller. There is a little bit of politics, intrigue, and romance, but the movie doesn't really focus on any of those elements. There is also a storyline focusing on building trust in the team which is nice but a little bit short and not very tense. I think they could have done a better job of putting the city and the characters in danger so that you worry about them.

I can see why some people didn't like the movie, it jumps all over the place. The main storyline is very simple and easy to follow but there are lots of little scenes and plot elements thrown in that could have been removed. The villain was portrayed in an interesting manner but they didn't explain why he was evil. Maybe this will get explained in the sequel.

Some of the other martial arts movies do a good job of creating emotional attachments to the characters and give you a thrilling experience when watching the combat. This movie does neither, instead you must simply sit back and enjoy the visuals without thinking about it too much. Some people don't like those kinds of movies, but I found it enjoyable.