Curse of the Golden Flower - Sony Pictures

Incest from Historical Perspective

A Beijing-2008 opening/closing ceremonies look bleak comparing with epic actions this work presents, and 300 (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD], computer-assembled digitally-mastered blood-thirsty action is a children tale-look either.

This is intriguing complex drama of historical family affairs not to miss for knowing nothing of Chinese history especially.

A lauriat for the senses

Curse of The Golden Flower, despite a few flaws, deserves a place in your DVD collection for its visual style alone. The story is a tad soap opera-ish, with royal family members squabbling over the Imperial throne, shifting alliances and motives. The first part starts slowly but picks up when the Empress decides to not keep her motives a secret. For the action fans, there are some truly exhilarating ninja scenes and a huge battle sequence. Although some CGI work are obvious, the art direction is unmatched. Chow Yun Fat and Gong Li, along with the other actors portray their roles with restrained intensity, so effective that even though you'll know what's going to happen, (especially the relation of the 1st son and the daughter of the doctor), which is a flaw of scripting, you still feel the full brunt of the emotion. Still, it's a keeper.

Colors are amazing

Great Colors, Beautiful picture quality. All-in-All a decent film.

Worth having in your collection if you are a drama/kung-fu junky.

Not as much fighting as i wanted, but the drama did keep me guessing till the end.

Agree with a few of the criticisms, but still very much liked this movie!

I can agree with a few of the criticisms offered by other Amazon reviewers. The drama was a bit overblown at times, and the start of the movie was a tiny bit slow. The end was an unholy slaughter and didn't leave off on a good / satisfying note.

That aside, the movie was beautiful. The sets were colorful, the costuming was over-the-top, but I rather liked it. This is not a "happy story." It's a drama about internal politics, deceit, back-stabbing, betrayal, and a little bit of good martial arts thrown in for good measure.

Having just come off watching Butterfly Sword and Warriors of Heaven and Earth, neither of which I cared for much, this movie was a welcome relief.

It was more in the artistic style of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, House of Flying Daggers, and Iron Monkey, all of which I enjoyed very much (Flying Daggers slightly less than the other 3).

So, if you like this movie, you'll probably like the 4 mentioned above. Or if you liked any of those 4, there's a good chance you may like this one too. Granted, the end of this one is quite bloody and doesn't end happily like some of the others. Won't say much more than that so as not to "spoil" anything.

It was beautiful to watch, but a bit too over the top with drama

We loved to watch the cinamatography was amazing, one of the best I have seen in some time, worth watching, just a bit soap opera-ish. I love Asian artistic movies and this is a touch more dramatic. A bit bloody, but over fun to watch.