Curse of the Golden Flower Critic Reviews

A period spectacle, steeped in awesome splendor and lethal palace intrigue, it climaxes in a stupendous battle scene and epic tragedy.Read the full review

Zhang Yimou's Curse of the Golden Flower is a kind of feast, an over-the-top, all-stops-pulled-out lollapalooza that means to play kitschy and grand at once.Read the full review

Since his debut in 1987 with "Red Sorghum" Mr. Zhang has made more controlled films but never one that's more fun. With Curse of the Golden Flower he aims for Shakespeare and winds up with Jacqueline Susann. And a good thing too.Read the full review

Like a soap opera, but most of what glitters is gold.Read the full review

The Curse of the Golden Flower is the year's most operatic and visually lavish film.Read the full review

The final effect is stunning, but also sadly impersonal.Read the full review

Director Zhang Yimou's ambitious attempt to blend martial arts action with Shakespearean melodrama. It's not a perfect marriage but it offers two hours of solidly over-the-top entertainment featuring incredible visuals and powerful performances by international icons Gong Li and Chow Yun Fat.Read the full review

Few filmmakers could produce so grand a spectacle, but Zhang used to be good for more than just eye candy.Read the full review

Curse of the Golden Flower is a watchable soap opera, but its marching-band martial-arts scenes are little more than weakly staged retreads of the ones in Zhang's "Hero."Read the full review