The Emperor and the Assassin

Not bad, but not good enough to be almost 3 hours long. Would've scored much higher with some editing, especially in the first 90 minutes.

The story itself is quite easy to follow, but it's very unevenly told and there are pacing-issues all the way. Weakest part by far is the demonising of the emperor; too often dialogue and scenes comes off as overly theatrical, and most of it just feels very slow. This is far more interesting when it's about humanising a retired assassin and a concubine's awakening regarding the emperor - but director Chen could have done more and better in some of those sequences. *Preview*: #14#, story, Gong

After two hours the picture started to pick up and become more exciting, and after another half hour it seemed to be wrapping up. I had to leave to go see the next movie though. Some very cool battle scenes. I never believed any of the characters emotions though.