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The Emperor and the Assassin Actors: Li Gong, Fengyi Zhang, Zhou Sun Director: Kaige Chen Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen Format: Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Widescreen Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Running Time: 161 minutes Studio: Columbia/Tristar Studios Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2000-06-13 Buy from Amazon |
 "Nice Movie"The director of this movie, Chen Kaige, has done historical research to film this movie. He has done a great job restoring ancient China to 221 B.C., to the time of Ying Zheng, the first emperor of China. I love this movie. As for the "R" rating, I think that it should be lower. Maybe a "PG-13." It may be a war movie, but it's not very violent per se. "Good Movie!"When the characters spoke of uniting the seven kingdoms, they referred to the "Whole World." The totality of thier world, some 2300 years ago, was China, and apparently Europe or Africa or the New World was unknown to them. They had built up a comlpex and well run society, although their technology seems to have concentrated on warfare and torture. The importance of ambition, family, strength and loyalty are illustrated thoughout the movie, although the overriding element is cruelty. The panoramas are beautiful, and the sounds of language fit right into the action, although the translations appear to be a bit stilted. To me this was a good movie, not becasue of the plot (which I found difficult to follow), but in looking at the way these people lived and carried out thier lives, realizing that this occurred over two millenia ago.  "interesting.. but boring. way too long"Interesting premise but the character development goes on ad nauseum and the climax that the whole movie builds up to is a washout in the last 5 minutes (guess ran out of budget). Way too long at 2.5 hours.  "No Shame in Going Retro"Chen Kaige's THE EMPEROR AND THE ASSASSIN is both grand and intimate. The movie is set during a time when a soon to be created China was divided into seven separate kingdoms. THE EMPEROR AND THE ASSASSIN is a visually stunning rendition China's first uniter - the emperor Ying Zheng. Ying fights six wars to unite all the kingdoms under into the Kingdom of Qin. As luck would have it, there is always complexity. Emperor Ying (Li Xuejian) is, as the movie depicts him, is an astute planner. We are introduced to him as he conspires to invade the kingdom of Yan. The conquest of Yan would cause a domino effect that would make the conquest of the other kingdoms simply a matter of time. As part of his plan, Emperor Ying banishes Lady Zhao (Gong Li), who while 'seemingly' cast out to Yan solicits the services of an assassin. Drawing the support of the Yan rulers - Lady Zhao precipitates the conflict. Zhao through her duplicity provides an excuse for the invasion. Moreover, Ying is seen as a man of destiny by escaping death so heroically. I might be wrong in making this observation but most movies of this genre follow the formula of huge and spectacular on the one hand and intimate and personal on the other. There is a plot twist... While the entire world is turned upside down Zhao escapes while Ying lifts all restraints and sets out to destroy Zhao's hometown after a revelation concerning his origin is too painful to handle. Zhao decides on the assassination for real but does not factor in falling in love with the assassin Jing Ke (Zhang Fengyi). The story becomes even livelier when both conspire seriously when previously it was simply a hoax. My suggestion is to go 'retro' and simply enjoy the duality of spectacle and intimacy. With $240M Hong Kong dollar epic HERO all the rage, movies about Qin Kingdom development like THE EMPEROR AND THE ASSASSIN are in danger of disappearing from view. The irony is, the reverse should be true. Miguel Llora "VISUALLY SWEEPING BUT A BIT FULL OF ITSELF"Imagine a three hour marathon epic where secrets and betrayals lurk at every corner, no one, including the king, is quite what he seems, and the screenplay is so glacial you'll be tempted to flirt with your remote's FF button. Nothing could slight the stunning visuals managed by this leisurely meditation on Chinese history -- based on fact as it were -- it positively bursts with action like Kurosawa's "Ran" from time to time. The portraits of palatial life, honor, tradition, basically the usual nine yards, are captivating. But amid this microscopic attention to visual detail and plot intricacies, characterizations get the cold shoulder. Our kings and queens and generals and concubines are for the most part as endearing as a Dominos delivery box, their lines as emotive as the weekend set menu. It's a dodgy trap, to get so caught up in dressing like an epic that you forget your basic undergarments. Emperors and Assassins is unquestionably gorgeous and enigmatic, but it's useful to have heroes one can care about, all of whom are comfortably absconding from this flick. Recommended rental for the historically inclined. |
