Yun-Fat Chow does an amazing job of inviting you in to his character while keeping a cool and aloof distance. Li Gong does well as the Empress, but the rest of the cast is unmemorable.
In a nutshell: Visually appealing if you like bright, ornate visuals, but may be too flashy for some. The story is melodramatic which can sometimes be boring.
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I grow up watching this show !!!
I love this show, it never get's old...Love the plot and the twist .... The acting is great show was so simple but so amazing !!!
The main characters is so cool. All 3 sons were interesting and it was really messed up how everything went down.
However it was all for the greater good. There was a purpose for everything .
Im being really vague not to give away any spoilers however for this show to be done in around 2006 the costumes were amazing. you can see much effort went into the show. Especially with the coordination of the flowers and the ending fight scenes. It was not corny it was action packed.
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With such a high standard set by himself, sadly this particular offering doesn't satisfy and is in fact rather disappointing.
The characters, despite their troubles, remain vacant and unlikeable, their plight and the story seeming to come second to the aesthetics of the film. This film is certainly worth watching for the costume design alone, and although some elements were not period correct, artistic license is well permitted in this kind of feature. Unfortunately the glorious costume designs are somewhat overshadowed by the almost assailing barrage of colour throughout the picture, which would feel more like a carefully considered element were the whole picture not marred by moments of very poor CGI.
Furthermore, the pacing of the film felt unbalanced, the result being that by the end of film you felt like not much altogether had occurred, and what had happened was made irrelevant by the lack of compassion for the main characters and what happened to them.
Still, I'd say it's worth a watch, particularly for designers and fans of the cast, but I wouldn't give my time to watch it again.
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What a wild ride!
This movie is gorgeous, with breathtaking cinematography, sets, and costumes. The story begins slowly, but picks up steam to end in a spectacular finale. It's operatic in tone and subject matter. Great acting. Chow Yun Fat and Gong Li are especially good. The music is nothing special. The fight scenes are competently staged and inventive.I would not put this film on the same level as Hero or Crouching Tiger, but I enjoyed the watch. I don't feel the need to watch it again, though.
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