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The Banquet

2006 2h 9m Drama List
42% Tomatometer 12 Reviews 60% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
A Chinese empress (Ziyi Zhang) hatches plans of her own when her murderous husband (Ge You) banishes her stepbrother (Daniel Wu), whom she desires.
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The Banquet

Critics Reviews

View All (12) Critics Reviews
Wally Hammond Time Out This dazzlingly designed, mega-budget, period costumer offers further proof of Feng's increasing versatility, expansive vision and bravura technique. Rated: 4/6 Apr 11, 2008 Full Review Kirk Honeycutt Hollywood Reporter ...mesmerizing but often empty... Sep 13, 2006 Full Review Derek Elley Variety Visually opulent but stately and stygian. Sep 4, 2006 Full Review Ard Vijn ScreenAnarchy I will grudgingly forgive bad logic or holes in a screenplay if there are enough pretty pictures to offset this, so for me "The Banquet" delivers in spades. Jan 24, 2020 Full Review Saxon Bullock Film4 A production that's both amazing to look at and hard to enjoy, The Banquet contains plenty of visual pleasures, but ties its gloomy story in too many knots to be truly entertaining. Rated: 2/5 Apr 11, 2008 Full Review Rob Daniel Sky Cinema Equivalent to attending a massive feast only to discover the main course is missing, The Banquet is frequently stunning, beautifully shot, but ultimately undernourishing. Apr 11, 2008 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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william k More inspired by Shakespeare than a true adaptation of Hamlet, this sumptuous and obviously expensive production with visually stunning sets and martial arts scenes, but its narrative lacks logic and coherence and is difficult to follow. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Liam D I'm a sucker for Shakespeare adaptations plus with Martial arts fight sequences choreographed by Yuen Woo Ping so I did enjoy it Rated 3 out of 5 stars 12/04/22 Full Review Audience Member Empty plot, excessive runtime, boring boring movie. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review Audience Member Yes it can! It can compete with iconic flics like Hero or House of the flying Daggers, or even Tiger and Dragon. There s no eastern flic that comes more poetic than this one. The director successfully made it to combine shakespeare with martial arts! To be more specific, it s a Hamlet adaption. Everything in that movie is so full of oppulence and poetry. Even the wire fu martial arts. But beware, it s a Shakespeare adaption in the first place and only in second place a martial arts movie. Last but not least, the score by Tan Dun is outstanding. I can recommend it to all eastern fans, who at the same time like Shakespeare Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/13/23 Full Review bill t Dollar then a stack of hammers, this overlong over pretentious movie is totally confusing totally pretentious, and in love with its own slow mo photography. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member This film is beautifully shot with gorgeous costumes, good performances and some interesting martial arts choreography. Sadly the film suffers from a underwritten script executed with confusing tones taking away from the sumptuous cinematography. It just makes you angry about how great this film could have been. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Banquet

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Cast & Crew

Fagara 100% 72% Fagara TRAILER for Fagara Purple Butterfly 43% 45% Purple Butterfly Lost in Beijing 52% 59% Lost in Beijing Unknown Pleasures 61% 68% Unknown Pleasures Blind Shaft 95% 86% Blind Shaft Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis A Chinese empress (Ziyi Zhang) hatches plans of her own when her murderous husband (Ge You) banishes her stepbrother (Daniel Wu), whom she desires.
Director
Feng Xiao-Gang
Producer
Zhongjun Wang, John Chong
Screenwriter
Sheng Heyu, Qiu Gangjian
Production Co
Huayi Brothers Media, Media Asia Films Ltd. [hk]
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Chinese
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 28, 2021
Runtime
2h 9m
Sound Mix
Dolby Digital
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