October 1, 2009
It?s no House of flying daggers but stick with it and this film gets good.
During China's Tang dynasty the emperor has taken the princess of a neighboring province as wife. She has borne him two sons and raised his eldest. Now his control over his dominion is complete, inclu...( read more
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DVD Release Date: March 27, 2007
Stats: 5,181 reviews
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Flixster Reviews (5,181)
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June 26, 2009Wow, what a visually amazing work of cinematography. And talk about your proverbial cast of thousands. The climactic battle scene is just beyond epic. I don't think I've ever seen war portrayed quite this way. A very fluid mass of humanity pours across the screen, like two li...( read more)
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January 22, 2009The Curse Of The Golden Flower is a historical epic starring Chow Yun-Fat as a Chinese emperor who rules both his lands and family with an iron fist. A plot to assassinate his empress results in an attempted coup to wrest power from his grasp. This story has a lot of potential fo...( read more)
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December 30, 2008This story makes some of Shakespeare's more bloddy works, seem like a Harlequin romance novel!
Murder, intrigue, deceit and treachery abound in this visually stunning film.
You need only look at the cast to get a feel for what awaits you. But nothing can prepare you for ...( read more) -
November 5, 2009Quite possibly the most visually stunning film I have ever seen. You know what to expect from a Yimou Zhang film.
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October 14, 2009Good acting, good effects, good cinematography, interesting story... Overall good movie.
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October 4, 2009The wuxia genre continues to give birth to films, and this is the lowest spot the genre has fallen. The extraordinary imagery as colorful as a rainbow, the astonishing costume design and the artistic editing typical of Yimou Zhang are still present, but the substance and the orig...( read more)
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October 2, 2009The film is visually stunning. The set looks amazing and all the dresses, armours and props look spectacular. Zhang Yimou is a Visual Genius, so it's no surprise that this film is a good looking one. The cast all perform well except for Jay Chou. I think he should stick with sing...( read more)
Critic Reviews
January 12, 2007
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
December 29, 2006
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
...A spectacle for the eyes and for the soul. full review
December 28, 2006
Colin Covert, The Minneapolis Star Tribune
Director Zhang Yimou is aiming for glorious visual, kinetic and emotional overload, and he delivers the goods. full review
December 22, 2006
Pete Hammond, Maxim
Eye-popping. One of the year's most spectacularly visual treats. It has wide-screen images that are beyond astounding. full review
December 22, 2006
Claudia Puig, USA Today
The year's most operatic and visually lavish film. full review
December 22, 2006
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times
Amidst all of this excess, an actor can too easily disappear, or be reduced to a hanger for a costume. But Gong Li, the standout in the cast, does wonders with her melodramatic role. full review
December 22, 2006
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail
Instead of transporting awe, the viewer groans under the weight of Zhang's self-conscious cinematic one-upmanship. full review
December 1, 2006
Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness
Li...prov[es] so over-the-top imperial that she almost singlehandedly elevates the film's heightened drama into something epic. full review
Comments
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July 25, 2008The movie was a 4 star movie, but the colors and sets were a 6 star movie, thus, 5 stars. It's amazing, because they built a life-size set to film this movie and all the rich colors were hand cut crystal; amazing! I recommend it just for the colors alone.
Take care all,
William
Zzzzzzooooommmmmm!
"It is easy to be brave, from a distance." -American Indian Proverb- -
September 11, 2007The rich colours and a hand-full of good fight scenes fail to raise this film to the standards of previous films by Zhang.
In a word this film is mediocre. -
July 5, 2007I love Chinese films. The people are so wonderfully superhuman, and the way that everything moves is so graceful and purposeful (I hope that makes sense to anyone else). Everything is so, in a word, beautiful.
Also, I love Gong Li and Chow Yun-Fat, they're both amazing actors.
As for the story itself, I found myself rooting for almost everyone (even though they had conflicting interests). The only person I was against in the entire story was the emporer, and even he had his moments where I felt for him (like when one of his sons killed the other). Even though most of the characters have done something "bad" I still felt a connection to their story and a hope for them. -
January 5, 2007The colors in this movie are beautiful, as with all of Zhang Yimou's films. There's a lot of symbolism in the movie that I thoroughly enjoyed. There is a scene at the end where the medicine is tossed, and it falls on the golden table, revealing the disgusting rot that lies beneath all the glamour and gold. It was very symbolic of the family itself. There are also a few other instances of hidden meanings that were very intriguing. Go see the movie! ^_^
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