Breathtaking... One absolutely runs out of adjectives to describe the visual master piece that this movie is.The reds have never been more vibrant, the golds have never glittered more. Every detail is etched out to perfection
and transports you back to the time when the Tang dynasty ruled the Oriental.
The story is that of every royal family in the world. Filled with mysterious shadows, where brother fights brother and every relation has deceit as its foundation, it follows the life of Emperor Ping (Yun Fat)and his family. The Emperor,who married for convenience, slowly poisons the Empress Phoenix (Li) for having an illicit
affair with her step-son and the crown prince. The cascade of events that follows leads to the revelation of
deeply rooted secrets and a bloody coup for power.
With the finest ensemble of artists,you take back the brilliance of the Chow Yun Fat at his baddest best as the
unfeeling emperor who loses his entire family in one night.
Many of us have waited for a decade for the gorgeously gorgeous Gong Li and Yimon to come together again and
it has beenworth thewait.Her portrayal of the scheming empress and a frustrated house wife is only second to her performance in Farewell to my concubine.But it is Jay Chou as the middle son torn between his loyalties to his father and his love for his mother who steals the spotlight.
In Yimou’s previous films like Hero and House of the flying daggers, the action sequences were elaborate. While Chin Su Tung has preserved the poetry of movement that you expect from a oriental action, the sequences are crisp and tight in this movie..And what resplendent costumes!
Yimou’s movies have been master pieces that  have held Asia’s head high in international cinema.
This one does not fail him either.