Chris Berry, previously associate professor of film studies at UC Berkeley, lauded the film's "intricate web of betrayals and plots". He described that "the only nobility to be had is within the swords of the valiant ones, those doomed to protect the shores of an empire rotting from the inside". The Harvard Film Archive called The Valiant Ones King Hu's "last true wuxiafilm". They described that the film's "choreography—action is expressed in calligraphic strokes such as the brief clanging of blades, the whizzing-by of arrows and the rhythmic flight of bodies—the film is nevertheless majestic in its evocation of landscape. But unlike the preternaturally gifted heroes of most swordplay films, Hu’s valiant ones are mortal".
