Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

roska-posti I've always hated Hong Kong -style super-human marshal art movies, and almost quit watching this with such martial art scene in the beginning. Bye-bye ten stars. So glad I continued, because rest of the movie is about the story, very beautiful, artistic scenes, emotions and acting. A few soft words, a look, a touch of a hand, a silent second speaks seldom so loudly. If this poetry of a movie does not touch your soul, live some more, you were too immature to watch it.In the end the empress asks, how many lives has passion burnt (ruined). I'm asking, how many movies did passion ruin. Certainly not this one.Many times I find these grand productions plagued with melodramatic loud over-acting when they attempt to make it larger than life. This movie used opposite means with a great success.

Desertman84 The Banquet is a Chinese wuxia drama film. It stars Zhang Ziyi, Ge You, Daniel Wu and Zhou Xun. It is a loose adaption of William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet, and features themes of revenge and fate. It is set in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period in 10th century China.It was directed by Feng Xiaogang.Her empire on the verge of a massive revolution as storms begin to brew both within the royal court as well as in the outlying kingdoms, the entrancing Empress Wan gazes upon her stepson, Prince Wu Luan, with the eyes of a forbidden lover rather than a caring mother. When the emperor dies an unexpected death and his younger brother Li ascends to the throne, Empress Wan marries the newly appointed sovereign as a means of both protecting her beloved Wu Luan and cementing her position within the royal court. When assassins dispatched by Emperor Li fail in their attempt to silence Wu Luan and his majesty subsequently announces a lavish banquet, Empress Wan and Wu Luan realize that the time has finally come for them to take action against the murderous despot. This film is as eye opening as it is thought provoking.Xiaogang Feng presents a unique tale that is both beautifully filmed and well acted. Legendary fight choreographer Woo-ping Yuen orchestrates some beautifully fierce aerial battles that while no longer novel are still thrilling to watch. Great performances especially by Zhang Ziyi,who as the cold-hearted matriarch, she more than proves her abilities as an actress who is ready to move onto meatier roles that aren't driven by her beauty.This may be one of the rawest Shakespearean adaptation you'll ever see.

Crveni Krst I've started discovering Asian cinematography only a few years a go, and as the time passes, it gets more and more interesting. And so, there I was watching "The Banquet", a rather strange mix of drama, horror and history. With the first glimpses of splattering blood, I got the impression this wouldn't be much more than a modern and overvalued martial arts thing, but somehow, it evolved and overcame the shallow nature of CGI and fake blood which are more or less predominant in "The Banquet". First thing to notice is naturally the technical aspect of the film. The frame is very good, professional to be more precise, and it is quite obvious we're talking about a costly project, which is done in a proper way. But the thing which made me stay and follow until the end was a touch of history, combined with a dramatic twist. The story resembles Shakespeare's "Hamlet" quite some, and frankly I'm not sure whether this is a rip off or a genuine Chinese tale. Whatever the answer is, it looks convincing, although probably historically inaccurate. Power has ever been associated with jealousy, envy and betrayal. Still, the most touching part of "The Banquet" was neither the visual or the narrative aspect, but a most intriguing display of Chinese theater. Now, I honestly don't know whether this is a true depreciation, but the white masked performance left a deepest impression on me, particularly in it's last scene where Qing Nu performs in front of the emperor. Did I like it? I guess that is that could be said, though I'm not sure whether this referres to the whole movie, or just some bits. One thing is for sure - I will investigate further the white mask theatrical performance.

dbborroughs Zhang Ziyi stars in a tale inspired by Hamlet. When the emperor marries his sons lover the son flees into the country. The Emperor is murdered by his brother who has designs on the wife and wants the son dead. Failing to fall victim to his uncles plot, the son returns to the palace and the family's bickering goes into over drive.The look of this film is mind blowing. from the sets, costumes, action sequences, and even the smallest motions of the actors, nothing seems out of place. This is a world that is both real and unreal. This is a film with a high Gee Whiz factor that must be seen in wide screen.Its a work of visual art.Unfortunately this is tough to sit through.I don't think its a bad film, its just one that I wish would get on with things. Many sequences, especially the action ones, seem to go on and on and on (especially since they are all shot in stylized slow motion). At other times things don't seem to have gone on long enough. Some of Zhang Ziyi early scenes left me a little confused as to what he deal was, she seemed more to be an actress trying to find a character instead of a real person on the screen. And while things got better as the film went on I never really bought her in the later scenes simply because of the fumbling early on. Worth a look for those who love on screen opulence or those who can be a bit more forgiving than I can with the pacing.This would make an interesting double feature with Curse of the Golden Flower, another tale of family dysfunction in ancient China