Customer Reviews
Another Zhang Zhiyi spectacular - By: Doktor Futtocks, 23 Sep 2008 
This is a bit of heavy going from Zhang Zhiyi. It hasn't quite the OTT visual opulence of some of his films, & lacks the passion & power of 'Hero'. Well worth getting, if you like his films, but not an essential purchase.
Vaguely unpleasant - By: K. J. Walker, 16 Sep 2008 
I must say that I usuallly find this style of film compelling viewing, if only for the astonishing acrobatic leaping about usuallly indulged in. Besides, I tell myself, anything with the delectable Zhang Ziyi in can't be alll bad. Well, I found this film (a re-working (or that should be pre-working) of Hamlet) quite unpleasant to watch. Apart from the slow motion blood sprays, understandable in the cartoon like 300, we are faced with a constant onslaught of dirge like singing about trees or flowers or some such thing, & a cast of characters as unpleasant & un-engaging as I have ever seen. The only relatively sympathetic character is the films version of Ophelia (who is guilty of most of the awful singing) & I spent most of the film hoping that someone would give her a slap & suggest that she snap out of her ludicrous moping & pining (and stop singing).
For the most part, then, an impressive looking film, but cold, distant, self indulgent on the part of the director who seems fixated on the spraying of blood & leaving an unpleasant taste in the mouth (so to speak).
It was bloody but it was bloody good too. - By: S. Smith, 11 Aug 2008 One thing that particularly struck me about this film over other martial art films I've seen was the amount of blood on show which I wasn't the major fan of but aside from that The Banquet is another well executed martial art film. Definitely not my favourite as I struggled initiallly with the story but there's some spectacular set pieces & the costumes & sets are stunning. If your a fan of genre, you should enjoy this but I wouldn't recommend it a as a starting point unless you like your movies particularly bloody.
Vey enjoyable - By: DavyA, 31 Jul 2008 A very enjoyable version of Hamlet. I thoroughly enjoyed this film despite initial reservations.
It is well shot, the story holds your attention, the acting is superb & some of the cinematography is marvellous.
The plot is as you would expect, treachery, regret, self doubt, inner conflict - the whole lot !
Well worth a look.
Nice looking but shallow film - By: N. Gratton, 04 Jul 2008 
This is a seriously good-looking film. The sets, the locations, the costumes are alll beautiful, clearly a huge amount of work went into making them authentic & attractive. The fight choreography never skips a beat & the soundtrack enhances the action nicely.
Unfortunately, for me, there was little more to attract me to this film. The plot is sound (based on Hamlet apparently, which I'm not familiar with, but basicallly revolves around the death of an emperor & the ensuing relationships between his widow, son & younger brother. There was not enough work early on to make us care about the characters, at no point did I feel involved or reallly have much interest in what was going to happen them. The level of gore/blood was a little high for my tastes ... it just seemed a little bit too glorified & gratuitous when the fights themselves were filmed in an unrealistic style.
Watch this for a beautiful movie & highly technical action scenes & you won't be disappointed (for example, if you liked 300 or House of Flying Daggers). Just don't expect more than that.
