The Emperor and the Assassin

Starring Gong Li, Li Xuejian and Zhang Fengyi.

Directed by Chen Kaige.

Written by Wang Peigong and Chen Kaige.

Produced by Han Sanping, Shirley Kao and Satoru Iseki.

Spoilers!
The movie was about the life of Ying Zheng, the first emperor of China, the one who unified the country and turned it into an empire. Yet the movie didn't show his early childhood life, it only shows the time when he became an adult and how he conquered the other 6 kingdoms in China.

Ying Zheng was destined to be the one who would unify China. He had an advisor who tells him every day that he has to unify China and rule everything under heaven. He began his quest by attacking the kingdom of Han, conquered it with ease because his army was far more superior than the Han army. Then his beloved girlfriend, Lady Zhao, wanted to return to her country, the kingdom of Zhao because she felt he has changed and their love wasn't the same anymore. He took her to his map room and showed her the map of the unified China. He said he wanted to be the king of everything under heaven and he wanted to rule over the people with goodwill. She believed in him and wanted to help him unify China, for she believed that he would be a different king.

Lady Zhao plotted with Ying Zheng to release the prince of Yan back to the kingdom of Yan because she knew the prince would send assassins to kill him. In order to gain the trust of prince Yan, Lady Zhao branded herself (a punishment reserved only for criminals) and came to the kingdom of Yan. There, she found a perfect assassin, Jin Ke. The only problem is Jin Ke is not the assassin he once was. He has lost his killer instincts and doesn't want to kill anymore.

At Qin, Ying Zheng encountered problems of his own. His mother has an affair with the marquis and they had two children together. Now, because their affair was revealed, the marquis planned a coup against Ying Zheng. Of course, the plot failed and none of the rebels survived. Ying Zheng also ordered the death of his mother's children, his two brothers in cold blood fashion. The marquis, out of anger, revealed that Ying Zheng himself was not the real descendant of the Qin royalties, for his father was Lu But Wei, the ex-prime minister of Qin. Most important, he was not a Qin, but a Zhao.

In order to silence the question about his identity, he has to kill Lu But Wei. He can't do it because deep inside, he knew that Lu But Wei was his father. Then, he said that back when he was a hostage at Zhao, no one helped him but Lu and Lu was the one that helped him to his throne. Yet, his trusted advisor said that there would be rumors about his identity if Lu were still alive. Lu, in an effort to help Ying Zheng out of this dillema, committed suicide.

Back at Yan, the assassin agreed to kill Ying Zheng and began to train himself. Lady Zhao heard that her country Zhao was being attack so she came back to help. There, she found the Zhao country was burn to the ground, children being buried alive, and Zhao was now part of Qin. She was so upset at Ying Zheng for breaking his promise of not killing more people that she decided to join forces with the prince of Yan.

The assassin, Jin Ke came to Qin as an envoy for Yan. There he presented a map of Yan to Ying Zheng. He has hided a knife inside the map and when he saw that Ying Zheng was out of focus, he tried to stab him. Of course, he did not hurt Ying Zheng and was killed.

In 221 B.C, Ying Zheng conquered all the 6 kingdoms and unified them as the empire of Qin. His empire was short-lived as it only lasts for 15 years, and collapsed right after he died. His body was buried in Xian along with thousands of cotta soldiers.

The movie is one of the best I have seen for a long time. The actors and actress portrayed their roles brilliantly. Gong Li was so beautiful and her acting was incredible. I still don't understand the comparison between her and Zhang Ziyi. Zhang Ziyi wasn't in Gong Li's class, and I'm sorry if I'm offending any of Zhang's fans because to me, her acting is just average. Gong Li was amazing, in beauty and acting. The other actors were also incredible in the acting as well. Too bad I don't understand Chinese, I watched the English subtitle version.

The scenery in this movie was beautiful. A lot of people is all I could said. I heard this movie costed over 30 millions dollars. That showed why it's a grand production.

The scenes I like best in this movie is the part where the marquis tried to stage a coup against Ying Zheng, but failed. It was so brutal when Ying Zheng ordered his troops to kill all of the marquis' followers. Other great scenes include his orders to kill his 2 little brothers and his dilemma of whether to kill Lu But Wei or not.

The last scene was also fantastic in which the assassin tried to kill Ying Zheng. He failed miserably, but got the last laugh. Ying Zheng even got the empire but was feared more than loved. Even his subjects were fearful of him. He was despised by his mother and was left all alone by his loved one, Lady Zhao. Shi Huang Di (Ying Zheng) life's was sad (as in suck).

This movie was worth watching if the viewers are old schoolers or they just want to see a great (as in boring) movie. I had to see it as a history assignment. But I wouldn't recommend to the 'pop viewers' because I was one of the pop viewers, and this one really bored me, even though it great.