starring

Zhang Fengyi

Gong Li

Li Xuejian

Sony Pictures

The opening moments of The Emperor and the Assassin are breathtaking for their bravado and finesse: Ying Zheng, the soon-to-be emperor of China, overtakes a fleeing enemy army on horseback, one soldier at a time. Leaping onto a fresher horse in mid-gallop and disposing of its hapless owner, he makes short work of the remaining riders and finally succeeds in cutting off the general at the fore, killing him with one swift stab in the chest. Shot with the camera speeding alongside the galloping horses, this first scene promises a magnificent cinematic experience, something both visually and emotionally powerful (if bloody). What follows, however, falls disappointingly short of expectations. Though a cinematographic knock-out (kudos to director of photography Zhao Fei), this epic rendering fails to lend vibrancy to the story of the first emperor of China's rise to power. All too predictably, The Emperor and the Assassin falls prey to the temptation of presenting sumptuous costumes and cast-of-thousands battle scenes at the expense of an engaging plot and well-developed characters.

Set in 221 B.C. during the so-called Warring States period in China, the story revolves around Ying Zheng (Li Xuejian), whose grandiose ambition to unify the states into one massive, centralized entity is both truly visionary and tragically misdirected. Though (debatably) well-intentioned, Ying Zheng resorts to more and more extreme acts of violence to achieve his goals. In protest of his increasing brutality, Lady Zhao (Gong Li), Ying Zheng's childhood friend and long-time lover, announces that she is leaving him. Ying Zheng manages to convince her that the bloodshed he has incurred is only necessary in creating a lasting period of peace--until it becomes obvious that he will spare no one and nothing, not even her home-state, in his bid to be emperor. She then turns to Jing Ke (Zhang Fengyi), renowned assassin of virtuosic sword-wielding abilities, to put an end to Ying Zheng's reign of tyranny. Haunted by the ghosts of his victims but redeemed by the love that springs up between him and Lady Zhao, Jing Ke sets off for a final showdown with Ying Zheng.