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Chen Kaige's (Farewell My Concubine) latest film has a lot going for it. This gorgeous, sweeping epic is reportedly the most expensive Asian film ever produced. It won a technical award at the Cannes Film Festival. And it reunites Kaige with his Concubine and Temptress Moon star Gong Li, one of Asia's greatest actresses. But despite this, The Emperor & The Assassin is still a tough sell because of its running time and its subject matter – a nearly three-hour film about political turmoil in 3rd century B.C. China. And it ain't in English either. Doesn't exactly scream crowd-pleaser, does it?
According to history, there was a 200-year period of unrest between the many kingdoms that composed China. There were seven major territories, with the strongest, called Qin, ruled by Ying Zheng (Li Xuejian, The Blue Kite). Ying was fixated on the unification of the Chinese territories so that he could rule the cohesive land as its first Emperor. He destroyed everything he viewed as a potential obstacle, slowly conquering the other kingdoms and eventually realizing his goal. But Ying died only one year into his reign, and his Qin dynasty dissolved within nine years, leaving the original Emperor a casualty of his own ambition and voracity.
The film, which is divided into five acts, focuses on Ying's attempt to defeat China's other states without appearing ravenously bloodthirsty. His concubine, Zhao (Li, Chinese Box) hatches a brilliant scheme involving a phony assassination attempt on Ying, whose attempted elimination would appear to be the doing of Yan, a neighboring kingdom that has proven to be the biggest hurdle for his plans to integrate the country. But in the process of setting up the assassination, Ying learns something about his ancestry that causes him to go unhinged, killing anyone that could either know or find out his secret, as well as turning against Zhao's native soil (which, just to be confusing, is also called `Zhao').
Zhao, horrified at Ying's actions, is forced to support the Prince of Yan (Sun Zhou), intending to make the phony assassination attempt on Ying into a very real threat. In Yan, she meets Jing Ke (Zhang Fengyi, The Blue Kite), an ex-killer who returns to his brutal ways in order to help Zhao. The double-crossing is reminiscent of Shakespeare, while the surprise heritage is suggestive of Star Wars.
Kaige's direction (he also wrote the script with Wang Peigong), especially of the intensely gruesome battle scenes, is tremendous. Cinematographer Fei Zhao (Sweet & Lowdown) bathes the film a warm light and Li delivers her best performance in years. Costumes and design teams add to a top-notch production.
2:46 – R for intense battle violence
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