You've probably already figured out by now that I am an absolute glutton for those epic Chinese martial arts movies. I watch them all. I rented The Promise even though it was such a box office bomb that it never even reached Tucson. Heck, when my neighbor also wanted to see The Promise, I sat through it a second time in as many days. So of course I was going to see Curse of the Golden Flower. I saw the trailer sometime last year when I went to see something or another with my friends (probably Jet Li's Fearless), and because my friends showed up just when the trailer started, none of us really saw the whole thing. We were just left with a general impression of "Awesome new beautiful Chinese movie with Chow Yun-Fat and Gong Li." What's not to love? Chris and I decided to see it without our friends, to have one of those rare date nights. Good thing for our friends, too, because we were able to warn them away from it! Don't get me wrong. The movie is just as beautiful as House of Flying Daggers or Hero. It's far more lavish than either one. It's also boring. The really cool-looking action that you see in the trailer is essentially all of the action in the movie. The two guys fighting in elaborate armor happens near the start of the film. The rest all happens in the second half, much of it near the end. In between then you are going to see a lot of drama, a lot of eye candy, and a decent amount of crying. There's a lot of scheming and intrigue going on in the movie, but most of it is really easy to follow. The big problem that I had with Curse of the Golden Flower is that there was no one I was really pulling for. The characters weren't very likable, and so basically you want them to all get what's coming to them. There's no one you're rooting for to triumph. What happens at the end? I won't say, but there really is some good action. There's a nice epic battle, some Chinese assassins dishing out the whoop-ass, and also, a lot of sparklies. There's more gold in this movie than in Fort Knox, actually. Costume and textile enthusiasts will find a lot to drool over. Even when I was bored with the movie, I was entranced by the empress's wardrobe and hair accessories. Most people will want to consider renting this on DVD, skipping most of the drama, and watching the action scenes. Oh, and don't even get me started on the song that plays over the end credits . . .

[Back to Collector Times]

[Prev.]

[Return to Reviews]

[Disclaimer]

[Next]

Copyright © 2007 By AJ Reardon E-mail AJ at: ErtheFae@aol.com Visit AJ at: www.erthefae.com