many might disagree with me
(for reasons i could not comprehend), but i think that the movie is really good in terms of the cinematography and action sequences.....it's in fact one of the best battle scenes that i ever watched...and the palace..OMG, the palace is so full of grandeur and luxury that you feel like youre really walking those hallways, if youre watching it in the cinema, of course
but really, i thnk im gonna watch it over and over again after my Final Year Project completes....
as for the story, it is really simple and classic....
*WARNING:SPOILERS*
father is poisoning mother, the woman he married only to have power, in a form of medication that she is to take every two hours,
mother has an affair with stepson who is also the Taizi,
mother's real son (2nd son) helps mother to overthrow father after mother tells him about the father's plot of slowly poisoning her,
coup failed cuz Taizi told father,
father, who actually wanted to give taizi title to 2nd son after the Chrysanthemum festival, offers to spare 2nd son's life is he would serve the medication personally to the mother,
2nd son committed suicide cuz he doesnt want to be part of poisoning his mother...
maybe ppl think this movie is pointless in terms of storyline cuz at the end it doesnt give any positive feeling.....at the end everyone dies (all 10000 soldiers that raided the palace died in the battle except for 2nd son who led the attack) and the mother (Empress) would continue being oppressed if she didnt commit suicide after her son's death...
The emperor lost all his family to this coup. so basically, he's left alone with the power and luxury that he coveted all along....