Okay, I see where Zhang Yimou wanted to go with this movie, and to a large part he succeeds. Unfortunately he succeeds in making the viewer uncomfortable in the so-luxurious-they're-gaudy confines of the Forbidden Palace. Usually in movies of this type ("The Cook The Thief, His Wife, Her Lover" for one), there's some refuge that's free from violent colors and unpleasant noise where we can empathize with the underdog heroes, but in this case there isn't. Sorry to spoil it for you everybody. We've seen over the top CG-generated crowds and armies before, and the video-based effects don't look any better here.

In short, I couldn't wait to leave the theater after sitting through this awful production..

The acting was actually pretty good. Chow Yun Fat is good as the cool and imperious Emperor. Gong Li as the Empress goes above and beyond her usually great job at acting miserable. I think she won some acting awards for her role in this film. Jay Chou is, well, minimalist if you dig that sort of acting.