This is an action drama that takes itself mostly seriously but not quite all of the time (to be clear, it's not somber or super-serious.) It looks like everyone had fun making it and it's a solid movie all around. The director had a firm grasp on what he wanted to do and how to accomplish it, and the movie never suffers from lack of direction or uncertainty (many martial arts movies geared towards 'get me to the main baddie' tend to have a period that drags on between the 2nd and 3rd acts, non-existent here.)
Heavier on the story and plot points than many movies in a similar vein, I never found myself bored or wanting (it's unique too), and there were plenty of action sequences too. The kung-fu is pretty below-average, but not in any way jokey, dull, or hackneyed, and is pretty much all done with swords.
Great sets and decent choreography and cinematography serve the action sequences well, as it's very much the "swooshing motions with dancing around" (again, done well) and not much at all real kung-fu. Minimal blood and cutting, but not non-existent, this movie definitely cared about the story, sets, cinematography, and acting, and was not just looking for a way to show some slicing+gushing - not at all a 'fast sword motion show the sliced body' type movie.
There are a handful of main characters and each is introduced and continuingly presented in a thoughtful way, and while it is clear who the good and bad guy's are, this is no obvious movie and predictability is relatively low. It gets props for originality but it's not at all outstanding and didn't wow me in any way.
Enjoyable and worth watching. 5.9stars