An interesting story, but it seemed a little one-sided to me and I could never really associate with the characters too well, especially Bale's main character.

zhang'in bu iste ne kadar tecrubeli oldugunu biliyoruz fakat bunu insanin gozune sokarcasina duygu yuklu yavas cekimlerle sinemaya katki yapmaktan cok duygu somurusu cabasina girmis gibi gorunuyor. filmleri giderek dogalligindan, kisiliginden uzaklasiyor sanki. japonya isgalindeki ulkenin derdini anlatmakta ise derine inmeden tek bakis acisina sahip anlatimi yaftama tarzi gibi...

Yimou's immediate imagery, with slow motion fragments, handheld action and a blunted colorful set design, provides a phony sense of grandeur, that is merely crowd-pleasing and hardly enlightening. This is when Yimou looks just like Rob Marshall -- I mean it.

good acting by Bale .. good directing but Bitches with good hearts !!!!! come on

Takes half an hour before it becomes even remotely interesting. Wonder why Bale chose this movie, did he it all read the script before he went into this or did he just see Zhang Yimou at the top. The dialogue is really poor and the characters are really flat. But it does have some emotional appeal.

Grandious start, but it fizzles out half way.

"Zhang Yimou's film is a bit of a hodgepodge, a work that sets up as epic in scale, but then pitches its tale on a far smaller level." - Andrew Schenker

what a nice drama!