The Banquet

2006

2h 9m

Drama

List

42%

12 Reviews

Tomatometer

60%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

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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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

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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

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Feng Xiao-Gang

Director

Zhang Ziyi

Empress Wan

You Ge

Emperor Li

Daniel Wu

Prince Wu Luan

Xun Zhou

Qing Nu

Jingwu Ma

Minister Yin Taichang

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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

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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
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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