Usually in martial arts films, there is a weak plot supporting strong fight scenes; in "Twin Daggers", it's the other way around. The fight scenes, although they have their moments here and there, are spoiled by too many gimmicks, MATRIX ripoffs, freeze frames, speeding up, silly wirework, stunt doubling, etc. The characters themselves are colorful enough (especially "The Body", a bodacious female assassin with blades hidden in her boots, and "The Ghost", a sort of trickster/clown who prefers laughing to talking), but they are poorly served by the film's action sequences. What works much better is the plot, which manages to stay ahead of the viewer all the way and contains several surprising twists. There is perhaps one instance of cheating, but only if you can't accept the possibility that two events shown in parallel time don't necessarily have to be happening at the same time. This surprising script was deserving of better choreography, editing and production values in general. ** out of 4.