Movie Review: The Curse Of The Golden Flower

I saw The Curse of the Golden Flower last night and... wow! I've always been a sucker for Asian period pieces about high-level politics and intrigue, so that might explain why I like this one so much. It's pretty much Hamlet with kung-fu, with the Battle of Cannae re-fought in the Forbidden City thrown in. Even though it's done in Chinese with English sub-titles, I still felt I understood most of the character's motivations better that I do with most Hollywood movies. Gong Li, in particular, gave an incredible performance as the Empress. Chow Yun-Fat was good as the Emperor; I think there's some sort of law that he has to star in all Chinese dramas that come out in the U.S. While there wasn't as much traditional hand-to-hand combat as you might expect in such a movie, the incredible set design and totally sweet combat scenes will make it worth your while if you like Chinese films at all.

Overall, I give it four incredibly beautiful Chinese palace servant girls with hypnotically distracting decolletage out of five.