I was really looking forward to this epic, especially after the slightly bland Battle of Wits. Boasting stars like Chow Yun Fatt, Gong Li and Jay Chou, together with director Zhang Yimou, my expectations for the movie were quite high. I had read the reviews for the movie in The Straits Times and FIRST magazine. They were quite different. One giving the thumbs down and the other, glowing comments. After watching the movie, I would have to go with the latter - I thought the movie was pretty good.
Zhang Yimou again dazzles with plenty of colour and set-pieces. The golden costumes of the royalty and the glimmering walls of the Imperial palace were breath-taking. No less amazing were the scenes of the imperial palace being decorated for the 'Chung Yang' festival. There weren't many fight scenes but the few they had were done well. I especially liked the one where Chow Yun Fatt sparred with Jay Chou. The director also made it a point to that all the ladies in the movies had their assets bursting through the tips of their dresses. Quite funny actually. Wonder if it was really like this in ancient China.
The actors were definitely in their elements. Chow Yun Fatt was thoroughly believable as the emperor although his spoken mandarin was still just a little off. Gong Li played an excellent empress and I'll admit it was a little distracting at times to see her... assets... bouncing around.. lolz. Then there was Jay Chou. Hmm... Many people complain that he seems to have only one expression when he acts (for eg. in Initial D). In this movie, I don't think he really flexed his facial muscles much more, but he did get involved in some decent fight/battle scenes. Basically, I think he has chosen a role which fits his persona again. For some fun.. keep a look out for his pout during his big battle scene. heh.
SPOILER WARNING (highlight the rest with your mouse if you want to read it)
The story was quite straight forward. Not really a thrill a minute, but I wasn't bored lar. Empress has affair with step-son. Step-son has affair with official's daughter. Empress plots to kill Emperor. Emperor plots to kill empress... lolz.. I think you get the idea. Earlier on, I was kinda fed up with the newspapers for revealing that Jay Chou and Gong Li die at the end. I'm still quite upset coz it really did give away the ending. At the very end, when there was a final tense scene, I already knew the outcome due to the stupid articles.
As an epic movie, I guess COTGF comes close. I still have a soft spot for Heroes cause I think the package was more complete. I think the one scene with Maggie Cheung fighting in the falling leaves almost justified the cost of the ticket! But COTGF is a pretty good movie. I enjoyed it. Catch it if you are in the mood for a Chinese epic.
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