Watched "The Banquet"
The movie "The Banquet" is a tale of fate and revenge set in 10th century China. A new Emperor has usurped the throne through murder. Zhang Ziyi plays the widowed Empress, who marries the new Emperor (Ge You) only to protect herself, but also secretly plots his death with the help of the Crown Prince (Daniel Wu) and the Chief Minister (Ma Jingwu). Yet the Prince and Minister each have their own plans for the throne, and, of course, so does the Emperor. All these intrigues are brought to a climax when the Emperor calls for a lavish banquet, where the murderous plans are set in motion. According to director Feng Xiaogang: "If Hamlet is about a prince who must make a choice involving life and death, then The Banquet is about how each character must face a choice of life or death… All are motivated by desire, but as soon as they have begun their plans must grow more extreme, and they move step-by-step towards the abyss… They do not intend evil, but turn to it out of self-preservation and ever-growing ambition."
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Zhang Ziyi as Empress Wan
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Ge You as The Emperor
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Zhou Xun as Qing Nu
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Daniel Wu as the Crown Prince Wu Luan
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Huang Xiaoming as the Marshall’s son
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I am impressed by the extragavant set and of course Zhang Ziyi, she was a great actresss. And I always liked the palace politics. Ge You looked a little too fragile as a scheming usurper of the throne, while Daniel Wu is probably the worst actor (that wat I think) in the movie. Feels a little over stretched, which could be snappier at parts. But what’s most disappointing, is the puzzling final scene, everyone is dead, so who the heck stab the empress… Ghost? I enjoyed the violent bits a lot. Very realistic. Overall, the movie worth 3.5 stars.