Customer Reviews

The Emperor's Shadow

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was surprised at how little information there is about this movie.This stunning piece of work is definitely worth more international regconition. The Emperor of Qin (Ching Shi Huang Ti) is a very popular figure here in Asia and everyone knows him thru history classes and here, is one of my favourite movie on the depiction of Emperor Qin.(221-207 BC.)

I had always admire Jiang Wen , and his cute,playful,fiercesome and brutal protrayal of the emperor is wonderful. Ge You is also great and comical at times. Ge You have won the International film festival best actor award twice.One for "To Live" the other for "Keep Cool". Both movies by Zhang Yimou.

The movies includes epic warfare, love, betrayal, friendship, stubborness, punishment, executions, tortures and power. Anything you should expect from and ancient epic, is all here.

The relationship of the two men in this movie is complicated, fascinating and touching. Full of emotions and feelings.

The entire movie from the beginning to the end are filled with gorgeous image and unbelivable scenarios. The opening sequence left me absolutely Speechless. The middle sequences left me in awe and terror and the final sequences left me in tears. The Emperor's Shadow is a tremendous hit here in Asia.

There have been some US critics who down grade this film (not here, but other sites in the net). From what I've read, some doesnt understand the culture and the history and some are basically political minded. See the movie for yourself and you decide.

Trust me. We, here in Asia knows best.

We came from our ancient ancestors of The Xia dynasty - ca.2000-1800 BC thru Qin,Han,Xin,Genghiz Khan to Kublai Khan who formed the Yuan Dynasty, and built the Imperial Palace (Forbidden City) and again thru Ming and finally Qing Dynasty (Empress Dowager Tsu Tzi /Aishin Goro Pu yi of Manchuria) to reach where we are in this modern world today 2001.

The Emperor's Shadow is visually sumptuous, with great cinematography and engaging history. Even if you are not a history fan. The movie can be enjoy via its visuals,ceremonies and scenery.

As an Asian, this gorgeous movie and various other movies based on ancient dynasties have given me a excellent cinematographic lessons about the lives of my ancient ancestors in the ancient past.

Beautiful and haunting

Genghiz

This is a surprisingly good and overlooked movie. I'm not altogether sure how historically accurate it is, but it does a fine job of depicting the brutality employed by the then ruling dynasty in order to unify China. It deftly weaves within this the intricate story of the emperor's love for his daughter and his childhood friend and their ill-fated love affair.

The acting is top notch, especially Jiang Wen's portrayal of the emperor. He convincingly conveys his cruelty while allowing us to believe the love he has for his daughter and childhood friend. I never question the conflict within him because his portrayal makes it believable.

Though the backdrops and sets seem almost muted compared to the larger-than-life emperor, this movie still manages to sweep you away in the stunningly lavish and rich scenery. The cinematography is top-notch.

The film is long but worth sitting through for a truly great film.

I don't know why this movie got bad reviews because I think it was wonderful. I just love that Bow Wow song and aside from the absolute guresome scenes of beheading done with ease like taking a coffe break the movie was awesome. I thought the characters were well developed and the river scene was great. That song just stayed in my head for days. I love movies about China but always have a box of tissue handy since they always have a tear jerker scene or two.

This film was overall decent and worth seeing if you've got limited access to Chinese historical films.

There were a lot of things in the movie that just plain did not make sense (and these things had nothing to do with translation). A lot of things just are not explained whatsoever. The movie starts out with Gao Jianli's mother breastfeeding both Gao Jianli and Ying Zheng. No information whatsoever as to how on earth Ying Zheng got from his probable birthplace in modern-day Shaanxi province all the way to the kingdom of Yan, a few hundred miles away, in the present-day areas of Hebei and Liaoning provinces, Beijing and Tianjin. The movie goes forward about 12 years to Gao Jianli just hanging around a prison courtyard playing the guqin.........I know it was a period of war and conquests but what on EARTH is this kid doing hanging around a jailyard?! And then a whole bunch of people are brought in and proclaimed as Qin captives to be executed. Among them (what a coincidence!), and positioned for execution right next to Gao Jianli (what a coincidence again!) playin' Jailyard Guqin, is Ying Zheng! Now hang on a second.....two minutes ago it looked as if Ying Zheng had been raised and maybe born in Yan, but here he is being hauled in with these other people from hundreds of miles away.

There are countless other things in the movie that are along the same lines - bizarre happenings that are totally unexplained and you can't necessarily figure out, even if you have (like myself) a good knowledge of Chinese history.

While the guqin music in the movie is nice (although a little redundant), the scored music in this movie is horrendous. Zhao Jiping usually is very tasteful with his usage of music in film, but this is an exception for sure. The authenticity of the setting, both in time and location, is ruined by the scored music, which consists of totally Western-style melodramatic orchestra+chorus for the most part. I love how when the army sings the Qin anthem (totally Western sounding) they're all Western operatic baritones!!!!!!! GIVE ME A BREAK! I know it's supposed to be this grandiose epic movie, but at least try to be real. This is the sort of stuff that you'd see in an old American movie from the 40's and 50's like Spartacus or The Ten Commandments where a group of supposedly average people open their mouths to sing a song and out comes Joan Sutherland and Kurt Moll. One reviewer said (in other words) that the orchestration helps in enhancing the magnitude and large scale of events going on. You can use Chinese music in the exact same way. What was Zhao thinking? Totally cheesy, unrealistic, and melodramatic as hell.

I do have to point out that they got authenticity in the areas of costume and props, but the music is just horrible.

Also, I speak Mandarin, and some of the translations are reallllllly bad. And speaking of Mandarin, I think that a little clarification on correct spelling with Pinyin (romanized Chinese) is in order for some of the previous reviewers. The guy's name was Ying Zheng. Ching is an outdated or Taiwanese way of spelling either Jing or Qing in Mandarin (qing if you forgot the apostrophe between the ch and the i). The kingdom in which Ying Zheng was king and where he later proclaimed himself the first emperor is called Qin. Note, it is not called QinG (or Ching/Ch'ing for our apparently Taiwanese reviewers) The first emperor of Qin is correctly written: Qin Shi Huangdi. Sorry, but I just can't handle these butcherings of Chinese spellings.

A good movie if you want to learn a little about Chinese history, as it portrays Ying Zheng as who he most likely really was: a ruthless emperor who was willing to stop at nothing and kill thousands upon thousands in order to unite the Warring States.

When this movie was made in '96, it was the most expensive ever attempted in China, and it certainly shows on screen. With a cast of thousands, a powerful score and sweeping scenery, the effect is truly breathtaking.

It is essentially an allegorical tale about the power of the state and its relationship with intellectuals and artists. Much of the drama and characterisations are highly symbolic, with Jiang Wen and Ge You acting opposite each other as polar forces. As such the characters of Ying Zheng and Gao Jianli are highly idealised and not very convincing.

Zhou Xiaowen has also made a point of departing quite far from history to create this film.

Third Century B.C. The First Emperor of China tries to unite his squabbling realm from a childhood friend and now a revered musician. What this powerful picture shows us is the impressive psychological insight, the political intrigues, the lavish mass spectacle, that in major or minor degree seem so similar to our actual political regimes, which clearly shows the level of advance we have reached in this sense.

Impressive locations and sumptuous photography make of this film an obligated reference.

I can say little about this movie in the time I have to review, except to say that it is an overwhelming large scale epic and emotionally stirring story. Perhaps occasionally inappropriate for the weak of stomach, but it's appeal lies in characterisation and brilliant storytelling.

For those who would rather experience it all first hand, do not read on as the following is a brief summary of the storyline. I do however urge anyone with a spare few hours to watch this movie.

It tells the story of a musician Gao Jian Li (I think that was his name) and the first emperor of China, who was a childhood friend of the musician. Even though they were enemies, they were brought together by extreme circumstances. Later, when the emperor has the power of life and death over all people, he enslaves Gao Jian Li to compose the national anthem. Gao Jian Li hates all that the emperor stands for and makes life as difficult as possible. I won't go any further as I won't do the storyline any justice.

"The Emperor's Shadow" is a Chinese production that rivals anything by legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. The film has breathtaking cinematography, brilliant acting and an intriguing story-line. It's all so good, it shines even through sub-titles.

The plot puts one in mind of Shakespeare's Henry VI, in which a character named Dick the Butcher utters the immortal line "First, we kill all the lawyers!" In this case, the butcher is the first emperor of China, who says in effect "First, we kill all the musicians!"

As a musician, I naturally take umbrage at that idea, but I must admit I understand why he would find my kind dangerous. Lord knows, someone who would rather play music than eat is difficult to control. Of course we all know from the tale of the grasshopper and the ant that musicians eventually receive their comeuppance, but I think beheading is way over the top. Then again, maybe that's not such a bad idea for some present-day "artists" whose success far exceeds their talent. Anyway ...

Not to give away too much of the plot, but the emperor eventually realizes that musicians have their virtues, and so he solicits a musician to compose a national anthem as a way to compel the people's obedience. The plot thickens because the greatest musician in China is the son of the emperor's wet nurse, an "adopted" brother who so despises the ways of the emperor that he intends to assassinate him.

Is that a Shakespearean plot or what? Trust me, everything else about this film is equally superior.

The First Emperor of China is a very controversial historical figure. Even to this day historians are not sure what to say about him. On the one hand he was very brutal. So brutal that shortly after his death, his dynasty was overthrown. However, it was he who unified China, started to build the Great Wall, had the Terra Cotta Warriors built. So, do the ends justify the means? Do we accept his brutality as a neccessity to unify China? Historians are still not sure and this is the question that both this film and the Emperor and the Assassin deal with.

Though this story takes place after the events in Emperor and the Assassin we must compare the two films. And the bottom line is that this is the weaker of the two movies. There are some visually stunning scenes in this picture. But as a whole, the story does not hold up.

Yes the filmmaker shows us the conflicts this emperor faced. We do get a very human look at him. But again, Emperor and the Assassin does the same and is a much better movie.

So, I do not recommend this film. It has a few good scenes but on the whole it fails. I strongly recommend watching Chen Kaige Emperor and the Assassin instead

Technically this is a very good film; but, it doesn't have the rich colors and exquisite cinematography that I've come to expect from Chinese art films such as Raise the Red Lantern, Farewell My Concubine, Flowers of Shanghai etc. The flavor is, in my limited experience, very Japanese and the mood of the film reminded me of "Ran" - very stark, cold, and brutal.