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Average User Score: 7 (32 sources)

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mr-jones

-1

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The 3rd and last episode of 'Hero' and 'House of the Flying Daggers'. Ultimately is a bit of a let down. So much has changed politically in China since Yimou's 'Raise the Red Lantern'(91) that he seems to be missing a golden (exuse the pun)...
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The 3rd and last episode of 'Hero' and 'House of the Flying Daggers'. Ultimately is a bit of a let down. So much has changed politically in China since Yimou's 'Raise the Red Lantern'(91) that he seems to be missing a golden (exuse the pun) opportunity to be making films of far greater substance . Gong Li is coupled with another Chinese giant C. Yun Fat.

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Posted oct 4, 2007 9:52 am pt

Bozanimal

-1

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If you enjoyed Crouching Tiger, Hero, or House of Flying Daggers, you may still not enjoy Curse of the Golden Flower.

The movie following the lives of the royal family during the Tang Dynasty. There is an excessive amount of lying,...
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If you enjoyed Crouching Tiger, Hero, or House of Flying Daggers, you may still not enjoy Curse of the Golden Flower.

The movie following the lives of the royal family during the Tang Dynasty. There is an excessive amount of lying, backstabbing, incest, and other dark activities transpiring, contrasted against the brightly lit - indeed, as bright as any Chihuly - palace. However, the movie relies less on the dance and choreography of its predecessor fight scenes and more on a twisting, woven script.

The acting is impressive, but we care naught for the characters, be them victim or antagonist. The events themselves that move the plot along are indeed shocking at times, but they are so drawn out they become boring after the first hour of walking around the palace.

If it is one thing Director Yimou Zhang can convey, however, it is scale. And not just large scale scenes in the palace courtyard and beautiful rolling hills, but the crushing claustrophobia of small spaces in small country inns and rural estates. The opulence of the palace will have you rubbing your eyes after its two-plus hour running time.

However, despite strong cinematography, impressive visuals, and entertaining performers, the movie's pacing is too slow to keep the viewer engaged. There is also too little action to keep a martial arts fan's attention, as well.

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Posted jul 12, 2007 7:42 am pt

Govvy

-1

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I am normally so up for oriental films with lots of Kung Fu and fighting. But in this case the film is nothing like the trailer. In the trailer you see all the action there is and yes! I mean all of it!

So if you’re looking...
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I am normally so up for oriental films with lots of Kung Fu and fighting. But in this case the film is nothing like the trailer. In the trailer you see all the action there is and yes! I mean all of it!

So if you’re looking for where the curse is in this film you would be mistaken. As for the golden flower, this would be near the end when you have worked out what could of been said in five minutes. When it took the whole entire length of the film to tell you, you start to wonder, why did I watch this!

Sadly there is nothing here in this film, the story is poorly put together, the characters have no depth and the colours start to make you feel sick. There is so much wrong with this feature that even a pig would suggest it’s dislike.

The main characters drone on for most of the film about family and love that it gives you no idea of what is going in the films reality. You are mainly stuck inside the ugly palace during the whole film. The only other things you get to see is a canyon tunnel which is an interesting feature and the house which the medicine doctor was made Governor of.

The only time when things start to get interesting is when everyone begins to die and I mean everyone! But even then after the resetting of the yellow flowers and all the dead bodies cleaned up you still wonder, why did I watch that!

O ye, it was a five star trailer advertising a one star film!

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Posted apr 20, 2007 3:04 am pt

Samuka

-1

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Great filmmaking, wardrobe and sets were designed perfectly... in this aspect one of the prettiest asian movies I've ever seen. However, you have to see the story with the eyes of a critic because it's really hard to enjoy this kind of sad ending...
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Great filmmaking, wardrobe and sets were designed perfectly... in this aspect one of the prettiest asian movies I've ever seen. However, you have to see the story with the eyes of a critic because it's really hard to enjoy this kind of sad ending they all have...

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Posted apr 5, 2007 4:10 am pt

fyrephlie

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Curse of the Golden Flower is a little bit different than any of the previous 'Asian Cinema' movies that I've seen, but not substantially.

It is, in every way, an incredible piece of filmmaking. From the moment the film starts, you...
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Curse of the Golden Flower is a little bit different than any of the previous 'Asian Cinema' movies that I've seen, but not substantially.

It is, in every way, an incredible piece of filmmaking. From the moment the film starts, you are accosted with over-saturated colors and a plethora extremely well choreographed movement. The most noticeable thing all throughout is the wardrobe, which is phenomenal, and the set design and construction, which is amazing.

Understand that it takes quite a bit for someone like myself to use words like phenomenal and amazing.

Beyond the visuals, which make up a majority of the films strong points, there's also the incredible 'fight scenes', which are, in no uncertain terms, as amazing as you'd expect from a film of this type. The only problem is that there's not nearly enough of them for the first 3/4 of the film, no, the story is what dominates.

The story, however, is another 'story' entirely. It's in depth and rich, but, I feel gets lost slightly in 'translation'. It's hard to watch, truly, because so much of the story requires you to set aside your concepts of 'normal' culture and society. It's also very slow going, and I feel that much of the story is withheld from us for far too long, until the end, when everything is 'revealed'.

The epic battle at the end makes the entire thing worthwhile, though.

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Posted feb 24, 2007 12:09 pm pt

• [+] Time
  
  100
  This is high, and high-wire, melodrama. It's less soap opera than grand opera, where matters of love and death are played at a perfect fever pitch. And grand this Golden Flower is.

  by Richard Corliss | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Tribune
  
  100
  It's a work by cinematic geniuses that reveals beauty and terror in a long-ago time with a virtuoso intensity. You won't soon forget its mad, lovely sights and sounds.

  by Michael Wilmington | Read Full Review »
• [+] Philadelphia Inquirer
  
  100
  A dazzling costume epic, a spectacle for the eyes and for the soul.

  by Steven Rea | Read Full Review »
• [+] Los Angeles Times
  
  90
  A period spectacle, steeped in awesome splendor and lethal palace intrigue, it climaxes in a stupendous battle scene and epic tragedy.

  by Kevin Thomas | Read Full Review »
• [+] Salon.com
  
  90
  Another remarkable chapter in the career of Asia's most important living filmmaker. After "Pan's Labyrinth," this is the movie to see this season.

  by Andrew O'Hehir | Read Full Review »
• [+] Washington Post
  
  90
  Zhang Yimou's Curse of the Golden Flower is a kind of feast, an over-the-top, all-stops-pulled-out lollapalooza that means to play kitschy and grand at once.

  by Stephen Hunter | Read Full Review »
• [+] TV Guide
  
  88
  It's a lavish entertainment that revels in lurid colors and yet more lurid emotions.

  by Maitland McDonagh | Read Full Review »
• [+] The New York Times
  
  80
  Since his debut in 1987 with "Red Sorghum" Mr. Zhang has made more controlled films but never one that's more fun. With Curse of the Golden Flower he aims for Shakespeare and winds up with Jacqueline Susann. And a good thing too.

  by Jeannette Catsoulis | Read Full Review »
• [+] Christian Science Monitor
  
  75
  Exhaustingly action-packed.

  by Peter Rainer | Read Full Review »
• [+] Seattle Post-Intelligencer
  
  75
  It's more theatrical pageant than action movie, with the showy but rudimentary martial-arts action coming off like just another ritual with the players going through the motions.

  by Sean Axmaker | Read Full Review »
• [+] USA Today
  
  75
  The Curse of the Golden Flower is the year's most operatic and visually lavish film.

  by Claudia Puig | Read Full Review »
• [+] New York Daily News
  
  75
  Chinese director Zhang Yimou has made some of the most beautiful movies of the last 20 years, and with his latest, Curse of the Golden Flower, he has also made one of the most deliciously nutty.

  by Jack Mathews | Read Full Review »
• [+] San Francisco Chronicle
  
  75
  Like a soap opera, but most of what glitters is gold.

  by Ruthe Stein | Read Full Review »
• [+] ReelViews
  
  75
  Director Zhang Yimou's ambitious attempt to blend martial arts action with Shakespearean melodrama. It's not a perfect marriage but it offers two hours of solidly over-the-top entertainment featuring incredible visuals and powerful performances by international icons Gong Li and Chow Yun Fat.

  by James Berardinelli | Read Full Review »
• [+] Rolling Stone
  
  75
  The final effect is stunning, but also sadly impersonal.

  by Peter Travers | Read Full Review »