I hate this movie parce qu'il est tres KISS-***!
The theme of the movie was about how many? Four? wishy-washy assassinators trying to kill a Chinese despot but couldn't do it because they realized that the despot, after all, was a great Emperor who unified China.
Since the assassination itself was a very dangerous task and the assissinators were lovers. Thus they were fighting about who should do the job so that their significant others could be safe.
Most conversations in the movie were like:
"I go. You don't go."
"No, I go. You don't go."
"No, I go!"
"No, I go!"
Why don't all of them just go to hell? I am glad they finally did but it took them a long time. Too long!
It was something like that... I fell asleep before the movie finished though. Besides, the director was trying too hard to show off his artistic skills instead of plotting, so it's easy to misterpret. (In a word, it's the director's fault if I misunderstood! Hee hee hee...)
For the movie itself, one scene is all white, another scene is all red, another one is all... (what color? Can't remember because I watched it last March.) Anyway, I find the artistic skills very pretentious. And my favorite actress, Maggie Cheung, looks so jaded in the movie. Actually, none of the actresses and actors looks good in it.
Is it a coincidence or Zhang Yimou is a very self-centered director who wants the audience to focus on his technique instead of the leading characters?
What makes it such an ***-kissing (not kicking) movie is because, okay, Qin Emperor (don't know his English name and don't have time to find out) had built the Great Wall and unified China and it was ancient history. Therefore I wouldn't spend time analyzing the Emperor's faults vs. credits.
But the director is using the rule of Qin Emperor as a metaphor to the Communist regime of China, saying that - although the Coummunist regime can be tyrannical but it's for the greater good of a unified China!
How pathetic!
). A little too much "wire fu", but it was not too bad. I liked the historical theme too, as well as the plot.
