Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

classicsoncall Apparently director Yimou Zhang was just warming up with "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers" before tackling the project that resulted in "Curse of the Golden Flower". I think it's pretty safe to say you won't find a more outrageously colorful film anywhere in any genre, even topping the effort of Zhang's prior two films.It seems there's a bit of a disconnect between the opening scene which states the story takes place in 28 A.D. China during the Tang Dynasty, while the story line indicated on the IMDb title page for the movie places the time frame in the Tenth Century. A quick internet search reveals that the Tang Dynasty lasted from 618 to 907 A.D., so something must have gone awry there. Nevertheless, it's a compelling story if you're into dysfunctional royal families, because this tale is loaded with intrigue, falsehoods, and a surfeit of double crosses that results in disaster for most of it's principals.What you won't find here so much is traditional martial arts mayhem when it comes to the action scenes. A lot of that is provided by the ninja-like, black clad warriors who descend on the royal palace to defend the Emperor (Yun-Fat Chow), while an immense battle scene is staged in the latter part of the picture that rivals the opposing forces in "The Return of the King" from The Lord of the Rings trilogy. If you like to see your fight scenes handled realistically, better pass here as Prince Jai (Jay Chou) finds himself continually surrounded by hordes of attacking soldiers and fighting his way out just a bit too handily.So that's not the reason I would recommend the film for potential viewers. What I thrill to is the gorgeous cinematography and spectacular use of color for scenes ranging from the Imperial Palace to the chrysanthemum laden battlefield that lends a sublime backdrop to the carnage that follows. You'll also have to pay attention to the machinations of the main characters, virtually all of them deceitful and decadent as they play out their strategies to disastrous ends.

chaos-rampant All the other comments point out the visual exuberance of this. Indeed the Tang palace shown here would make the Versailles look boorish. The film is a feast, a hot shower of melted color and gold. Walls are gilded, pillars are fire colored, ceilings are purple. Every frame an ornate sculpture. You can see why Zhang would be picked for the Olympic ceremony two years later - the festival at the end is like a trial run.But now to see the makings of things clearly instead of being dazzled. It's precisely a dynastic beauty that overpowers the eye, clouds the mind with visual smoke. Gold here is both opulence and delusion, beauty and ignorance, not unconnected these two. Within this gilded cage unfolds Shakespearean drama with tragic irony in abundance between emperor, wife and three sons.The idea, deeply Chinese, is that there's heavenly order in the world and man must take his place in it and devise his own order to mirror the higher one. The Chinese had indeed mulled over this long and hard to devise their own order that would support an empire. We see everything ordered here and the small rituals involved. Elaborate preparations are underway for a festival that celebrates the unity of heaven and man. But the medicine she's ritually made to take every day (to "balance her energies") is poisoned; an indictment of the artificial harmony favored so much by the Chinese.It is a household that we enter essentially. Scaled down from imperial machinations that involve poison and succession to the throne, we see an unhappy family. When the imperial doctor who has been administering the poison with his daughter is felled upon by mysterious figures in black in a most marvelous scene outdoors, these are apparitions of guilt that have come to haunt, puppets on strings descending from the sky. It's karma, another kind of heavenly order. Something went wrong once in this family and the world makes it wash up in front of them.I like that it's all abstracted within walls here, that we don't venture outside for sweeping history. It has elaborate action only near the end and using the same gilded abstraction. And that it builds the same order for itself around a household essentially and karmas set in motion. The ending is ruinous of course. All because a man took a wife out of convenience one day.

braddugg An intense drama with superb production design.It's the kind of drama that we used to see in our childhood with family politics involved and the fight is for the throne. Who is going to be the heir? How to take the throne from a king who is good at fighting but not so kind at heart? This forms the whole story and indeed that is what is the whole movie.Characters are shown as they are, and slowly as the film progresses, their real motives are revealed. From crown prince to the empress to a doctor, everyone is doing something for themselves and its their selfishness that has drowned them. At the beginning, I thought it would be hard to understand story, but as things got simpler, I started actually disliking it. It's a complex story with every character being pivotal to the culmination of the story, yet with each detail revealed I was getting to know more of the story and as knowledge grew, interest reduced and that's what happened. Yet, this is a very hardcore drama and a great drama too. We don't see so much of politics involved and each character plotting against the other in many films. Now, before I go ahead reviewing anything, costume design and set design which combine into production design are aspects I loved this movie for. The climax fight that is choreographed superbly shows a glimpse of how authentic the whole film is. From beginning to the end, the palace, the kings costume, the queen's embroidery each has it's own distinct artistry and all are beautiful. Gong Li as the empress has showed great variation in emotion and so did Chow Yun Fat as the emperor. All others showed emotion well. Sound design was good tooNow, this is good movie and not a great one though, a 3/5 is what I think is apt.

hamstermofo The movie is slow and boring. Every other scene is filmed in a hallway. There didn't seem to be a clear point to the movie. The outlandishly bright colors everywhere started to get annoying. I don't know why certain things were happening, as the director didn't think anyone needed certain formation. Perhaps if this movie had a different director it would have been decent. I heard the book was decent. Watch this movie only if there's nothing else to watch. How am I supposed to get 10 lines out of this? I stated my points about the movie. How am I supposed to get 10 lines out of this? I stated my points about the movie. How am I supposed to get 10 lines out of this? I stated my points about the movie.