Curse of the Golden Flower (2006)
Reviewed by: mrblue on 2007-04-27
Sporting one of the largest budgets ever for a Chinese production, the director of epics such as Hero, and the return of Chow Yun-Fat to the screen after a six year absence, The Curse of the Golden Flower was one of the most hotly anticipated movies of 2006. Does it deliver? In many ways, it does. But ultimately, it ends up feeling a bit hollow, and that is Golden Flower's main downfall.

Set during the tulmultous times of the Tang dynasty, Golden Flower focuses on the royal family, which is headed by the Emperor (played by Chow Yun-Fat). Preparing for the return of Prince Jai (Jay Chou) after three years in combat, the family's house seems to be in order. But things are not all they are cracked up to be, as the Empress (Gong Li) is planning to overthrow the Emperor.

As you might expect for a film of this type, Golden Flower's actual story and the way it plays out is much more complicated than the above simple plot description would lead you to believe. Almost immediately, this becomes a problem. Since none of the characters are really fleshed out, their motivations are never very clear. This leads to confusion for the viewer and, I would suspect, boredom for a great portion of the audience, which is kryptonite for a movie like this.

Yes, the movie does look outstanding. The sets and costumes are beyond compare -- simply stunning. But if there's nothing behing the opulence, what does it matter? Don't get me wrong. Golden Flower isn't total filmic mastrabutory fare -- though there are many times when it comes dangerously close to teetering over the edge from an actual movie to a technical demo.

There are a couple of factors which save Golden Flower from falling flat on its' face. The first is the action. Helmed by the legendary Ching Siu-Tung, Golden Flower features some outstanding sequences. Though they have too much CGI and too little blood for my tastes, one still cannot deny the sheer sonic and visual power of these scenes.

Secondly -- and most importantly -- is the acting. Though the actors don't have much to work with, they still manage to create interesting and intriguing (if incomplete) characters. Of particular note is Chow Yun-Fat, who seems to relish being able to eschew his usual "ultra cool" images and create an extremely flawed, yet still powerful, character. Gong Li also does a fine job, and, like every other review of this movie written by a straight male, I must point out how outstanding her cleavage looks.

Ultimately, The Curse of the Golden Flower is a bit underwhelming, but still worth a viewing. True, if the movie didn't have a big budget and didn't look so outstanding, it might have not even eked above the realm of the B-movie. But as it stands, it's a great-looking movie with some solid acting and decent action scenes -- which is all most fans of the genre really want anyway, isn't it?

[review from www.hkfilm.net]
Reviewer Score: 6