The Emperor and the Assassin Rating: Release Date: 13 June, 2000 Retail Price: $29.95 OUR Price: $26.99 You SAVE: $2.96! Cast: Fengyi Zhang Li Gong Xun Zhou Benshan Zhao Complete Cast (7 total)

The Emperor and the Assassin Reviews

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Grand spectacle, burning cities, imperial stratagems and children flinging themselves from walls. Not bad.
A besieging army is in its final attack against the great city. High on the battlements parents and courtiers are bringing the children. They range in age from four or five to the early teens. Then the adults urge the children to throw themselves onto the swords and spears of the enemy soldiers below. Throw themselves they do. After the city has been taken and most of the inhabitants slaughtered, the remaining children, who could be a threat if they seek revenge when they grow up, are buried alive outside the city walls. And so Ying Zheng, king of Qin, conquers the kingdom of Yan, one of China's seven kingdoms. Before he is through he will have conquered the remaining kingdoms and made himself the first emperor of a united China. The stench of his conquests will fill the nostrils of historians and movie makers down to the present.

The Emperor and the Assassin tells us the story of Ying Zheng (Li Xuejian), who unifies China (at least for a short time; his dynasty lasted only 15 years), his companion from early youth, Lady Zhao (Gong Li), and an assassin, Jing Ke (Zhang Fengyi), she hires in an elaborate plot to further Ying's ambition. She will pretend to flee the Qin city, going so far as to have herself branded on the face, and convince the Yan she has left the king. But once there, she will hire a most skilled assassin who will journey to Qin. With advance knowledge of the plot, Ying will intercept the assassin, blame the Yan and force them to surrender without the bloodshed of a full-scale war.

Two things interfere with Lady Zhao's carefully crafted grand strategy. Ying, the King of the Qin, develops into a megalomaniac, brutal, cruel and obsessed by a secret from his childhood. The cities he conquers are laid waste, his armies slaughter everyone who resists. Those he thinks could be a danger, he puts to the sword, or worse. He thought his two younger half-brothers, neither older then eight, could be a threat. While they scream for their mother, they are placed in sacks and thrown from a wall. The vision of one China, ruled wisely for the benefit of the people, a vision he shared with Lady Zhao, has been twisted into a nightmare of blood. Lady Zhao comes to realize this...and she comes to fall deeply in love with the assassin, a man who turns out to be made of far more honor than the King. When the king decides on a full-out attack on the Yan anyway, Lady Zhao wants the assassin to succeed. The climax of the movie is the confrontation between the assassin and the king, and between the king and Lady Zhao.

There may be melodrama mixed in with this great, sweeping adventure, but just keep watching. Director Chen Kaige has produced one of the most lavish and historically accurate films ever made. He constructed a real palace -- hallways, courtyards, sweeping stairways, elaborate rooms -- larger than Beijing's Forbidden City. He insisted on 20,000 costumes, most of them lavish and each one true to the period. Armies in the thousands of men march across the Chinese plaines and besiege cities. Great, square wooden chariots holding three men each race across the battleground and crash into the opposing infantry. Ranks of archers cut down rebels, who are finished off with spear thrusts. The courtiers perform their elaborate rituals in silks and perfumes; the soldiers reek of sweat and scratch lice. The long movie is a marvelous spectacle. There may be too much exposition for some; the pace may be too stately at times for others. Still, it's a feast to look at, the imperial betrayals are deadly and the battle scenes (and there are a lot of them) are gripping.

Gong Li is evenly matched in this movie by the actors who play the King of Qin and the assassin. Even so, she is a vision to look at and a superb actress. Her lips are as red as fresh blood, her skin like porcelain. Even with a scar on her cheek she looks better than just about anyone else. In one five-year period she starred in such an array of significant movies playing such different characters that I don't think she can be matched by any other actress. Just consider: Ju Dou (1990), Raise the Red Lantern (1991), The Story of Qiu Ju (1992), Farewell My Concubine (1993), To Live (1994) and Shanghai Triad (1995).

If you travel to China, be sure to visit the city of Xian. Not far away you'll find the tomb of the emperor. It is a tribute to his megalomania. It lies surrounded by thousands and thousands of full figure terra-cotta soldiers and horses...cavalry, spearmen, charioteers with their horses, archers and swordsmen. The buried tomb is enormous; these ranks of clay soldiers, fully equipped, are only the ones which have been unearthed so far.

The movie may be a bit stately at times, but it's one of the great examples of movie making on a grand scale. The DVD picture looks just fine. The significant extras include a director's commentary and a filmography.

A movie worth watching!
The Emperor and the Assassin, brings to the screen the story of King Ying Zheng as he tries to conquer the remaining 6 kingdoms and unite China under his rule. The story gets more complicated as things are not as they seem in 3rd Century BC China...
The film combines romance, drama, action, intrigue and adventure making it one of the best of its kind! In addition, there are quite a lot of unexpected twists, which add to the overall enjoyment of the movie.
Moreover, the fascinating culture and traditions of China are presented very well in the film.
The plot is excellent and opens a window into the mysterious Orient.
Furthermore, shot on location it provides for some amazing scenery.
Needless to say, Fengyi Zhang, Li Gong, and the rest of the cast have truly outdone themselves with their performances, which are outstanding to say the least! All the actors, without exceptions, give it their 100%! Their great talent and chemistry clearly shows, thus providing an entertaining film that can be watched over and over again.
The setting, the dialogues, the music and the costumes are all wonderful!
The only setback is that at times it is a little difficult to follow which means the viewer needs to be attentive at all times.
Very well written and very well presented, it is a movie definitely worth owning, yet alone watching, especially for those with a soft spot for History, and especially for Eastern/Oriental enthusiasts.
Strongly recommended along with the House of Flying Daggers, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Hero, to those with a soft spot for all things Chinese. 4½ Stars

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