I'm a big fan of Chinese movies, Ziyi Zhang and Shakespeare, so I was definitely looking forward to this movie. The story is inspired by Shakespeare's Hamlet and does an excellent job of translating the classic to an historic setting at the end of the Tang dynasty. I especially enjoyed the reinterpretation of Hamlet's mother as Prince Wu Luan's former lover (there was always something uncomfortably incestuous in Shakespeare's original). The acting is superb with kudos to both Ziyi Zhang and You Ge for creating a pair of very complex characters as Empress and Emperor. Some of the dialog is poetic in spite of not being Shakespearean. The sets were sumptuous. And Qing Nu's song at the end was beautiful!

So where did it go wrong? Except for Qing's song, the rest of the music was annoyingly obtrusive. Most of the action scenes were stylized and shot in slow motion. And many times the annoying music was playing during the slow motion action sequences, which effectively doubled the annoyance. Only the Prince's "audition" was a meaningful, well constructed action sequence. Finally, it could have been edited better with the movie reduced by about 15 minutes. There were several scenes that just didn't make sense. For example, there is a beautiful shot of Empress Wan entering the water naked, but it has no relation to what came before or after (ok, maybe that scene doesn't need context, but it just seemed out of place).

Overall, a decent movie with flashes of brilliance but having one too many flaws to rank any higher.

This is a very well made production of an epic story placed in 10th century China. Magnificent scenes of ritual, majestic scenery, beautiful landscapes, great stage design, artful choreography and above all a very good sense of the theatrical that echos ancient Greek Tragedy. One thing that seems to be wearing out in Chinese movies of this kind are the long violently cruel scenes that are attempted to be beautified and the ongoing fighters who fly allover. In a choreographic sense they are of great merit but a lot is unnecessary. Zhang Ziyi is one more good reason to see this movie. I found her convincing in her role although somewhat stiff. I would like to see more of her in the future, more such great productions with even less fighting and more content that Chinese culture can easily provide.

Set at the end of the Tang Dynasty when China has broken into various warring kingdoms Wu Luan, the Crown Prince of one such kingdom, has left the palace to study drama after his father marries Wan, the woman he loves. His reign isn't long though; the Emperor's brother poisons him, usurps the thrown and plans to make his wife the new empress. Assassins are dispatched to kill the Wu Luan but he has been warned and survives. Returning to the palace he discovers the truth about his father's death. He wants revenge but it is very dangerous; upsetting the emperor can lead to death; not just of the person involved but also of his clan. Wu Luan isn't the only person wanting the Emperor dead; Empress Wan may outwardly appear to love him but she really wants to protect her prince and when she thinks he is dead she wants revenge.

Having read that this story is loosely based on 'Hamlet' it came as no surprise that this is a tragedy without a happy ending. As is usually the case with Wuxia films everything looks stunningly beautiful and the fight scenes are amazingly choreographed; more ballet than battle as the characters move like dancers as the blood paints their stage. This is particularly noticeably in the opening scene where black clad assassins ambush the white clad members of the Prince's Theatre group. The acting was good; Ziyi Zhang is delightfully ambiguous as the Empress and You Ge is menacing as the Emperor. The film nicely captured the oppressive nature of the palace; everybody trying to please the emperor through fear rather than respect. If you are a fan of the genre this is well worth watching even if there are better examples.