Word: zheng
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...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...
...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...
...Zhang Fengyi fares better as the sympathetic Jing Ke, giving a much-needed boost of feeling to the last third of this more than two and a half hour saga. Indeed, as a seasoned killer who makes the conscious decision to renounce his murderous past, he shows what Ying Zheng has the potential to become: strong-willed yet benevolent, not guiltless yet not amoral...
...rescue the titanic The Emperor and The Assassin from sinking under its own epic weight. In what should have been a stunning scene, Lady Zhao runs onto the corpse-strewn battlefield of her home-state Zhao to find the mass grave of all Zhao's children, massacred by Ying Zheng. At first incredulous, then hysterically digging up one small, blue body after another, the anguished and betrayed Lady Zhao almost gives one something to care about. But the overwhelming violence up to this point has only left the viewer numb and dry-eyed for this pivotal moment...
This is not, of course, to say that violent movies cannot be good ones. But good violent movies win over the viewer by matching the visceral intensity of head-hacking with solid emotional substance. Unlike Ying Zheng, who exacts a bloody toll of thousands and still succeeds in fulfilling his ambition, The Emperor and The Assassin exacts its toll--without, sadly, achieving similar greatness...