*****House of Flying Daggers spoilers ahead*****
Well, the characters were just stupid. And all that pointless intrigue and plot-twisting was horribly overdone. I can't remember a lot of the details of stupid things that just completely turned me off, but you remember when the one lieutenant guy who was a Flying Daggers spy was trying to force whats-her-name and then the one lady threw a dagger FROM MILES AWAY straight into his back. And then he's like "wtfmate" and she tells him to keep it in his back because it will prove he's not a spy when he goes back to the police force or whatever. Just think about that for a second, and picture this scenario...
Lieutenant: Hay guys I'm back.
Others: Whaddup.
Lieutenant: nm u?
Others: Watching the game, having a Bud.
Lieutenant: Yo see this knife in my back? Totally not a spy, amirite.
Others: Shit, Boo, you be straight up trippin' but that's cool wit me.
I do realize he needed that dagger for the fight near the end, but Super Flying Daggers Lady couldn't have known that.
Don't get me wrong; the fighting and cinematography was gorgeous. But the plot was unnecessarily convoluted. I think the writer just wanted to try his hand at being very clever so he could fail miserably. I mean you can do plot-twists right, or you can do them wrong. His way lacked subtlety and depth, and I turned terribly biased towards it about half-way through the movie. I'm tempted to watch it again just so I can remember at exactly what point I decided it was stupid.