Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007...9:06 pm
Curse of the Golden Flower: A Curse
How do I start? OK the movie has good visual and blah blah blah. The first half of the movie is freaking boring. Well, if a movie is boring but with eventual satisfying reward, then it would’ve been alright. The problem is that the second half of the movie is simply just ludicrous. Well, ok, you have the intrigue and plots and counter-plots and counter-counter-plots, but after the atrocities in the end, you couldn’t care less. And by the way, Jay Chou couldn’t act even if it’s to save his life.
I want to tell you how ridiculous the last segment of the movie is, but then you’d have to see the movie to understand what I’m going to say. Well, OK you can see it for the visual. It’s not as bad as Inspector Gadget the Movie or Eragon, but the last images are so nagging that I couldn’t shake it out of my head.
*SPOILER - highlight text to read*
The last battle sequence must’ve been one of the worst in any movies. It’s called Computer Graphics overkill. Just because they could copy and paste, they have to fill the whole ground with moving soldiers, which makes the whole even surreal. There they are in the forbidden city, and in rushed what seems like a gazillion soldiers endlessly, filling the whole empty space of the square inside the palace. That’s not all. Suddenly, the opposing army ambushed them. The number of opposing army? Yet another gazillion. They showed up from everywhere. From the back of the fence, the roofs, the rooms, the doors, the windows, the toilets, everywhere. They also fill the whole ground. In square formations. In just a few seconds. The question became: where did all of them hide all of those time? Some underground bunker? In the concubines’ thousand rooms? Stoopid. Then they slaughter the attacking army with quazillion archers from rooftops, but that’s after they managed to pull some kind of defensive movable fortress shaped like a giant shield. OK now where did they hide those fortresses before? It’s all so laughable that I squirmed. That’s not all the atrocities. After the carnage, there comes an ectazillion janitors sweeping the whole palace, replacing carpets, changing flowers, washing away the blood, etc. Before 5 minutes, the multitude of janitors finished their job and in the same amount of time dissapeared outside from the gate. Imagine. In less than 5 minutes, the whole square is full with people entering from 3 small, about 6 meters, doors. In the same time, the whole people on the square exited from the same doors without trampling on anyone. That’s what I call discipline! Either that or Computer Graphics run amok. Wait, that’s not all. After the janitors left, megazillion of bureaucrats, ministers, concubines, wives, ambassadors, and lobbyists enter the square in perfect square formations, filling the whole empty space completely. They did this in less than 2 minutes. Anyway, the Computer Graphics department of this movie must be shot in the head, together with Zhang Yimou for giving me a headache trying to imagine the logistics of what has transpired in the last 20 minutes of the movie.
You have been warned. Watch the conclusion of the movie at your own peril.
6 Comments
January 5th, 2007 at 8:58 pm
Dude, the movie is GOOD! …if you’re not too over-analyze it.he2
I personally see nothing wrong with movie, including the last scene of the movie..
When I see a movie, I always try to see the ‘genre’ of the movie.
For example, if it’s a horror movie, I wouldn’t expect a rational explanations to from where the spirits came from, why it can possess a person, etc.
If it’s a fantasy type of movie (Lord of the Rings), I also wouldn’t overanalyze “how come the there’s such Orc creatures? Why there’s a sharp-pointed creatures? This is nonsense!” etc.
If it’s a comedy genre , I wouldn’t expect (or hope) to get thrilled by some full-actions from the characters (after all, it’s a comedy genre).
And if it’s a movie about the intrigues inside a Family (ie: The curse of golden flower) , I personally is fine with “No big grand soldiers appearing until the last minute of the film”. It is fine with me, because the movie is not a ‘War’ type of movie that has to all-time show all the soldiers. So it’s OK if 3/4 of the movie revolves just inside the Castle (& the family-intrigues inside it).
Regarding the last scene, IMHO, since I think this is also an “artistic” type of movie, i believe Zhang Yimou has NO other option in order to make the last scene appearing Grande/Huge.
If Zhang Yi mou has to think ‘realistically’ when making that last scene (eg: instead of making that swarmed-amount of soldiers, he just make ENOUGH (realistic) amount of soldiers
to enter the Castle) , then the last scene of the movie would definitely look much less grand/huge-in-scale.
Also if ZhangYiMou has to first/initially point out from Where all the soldiers, janitors coming from, then he has to show all the Doors/Entrances in the movie…..but this is not Documentary-type of movie. This is a movie about family-intrigues inside the Castle.
So IMHO, doing this would beat the Main-purpose of the movie : which is the Telling about the family-intrigues.
And also, if Zhang YiMou wants to appear ‘very realistic’,..then the last-’Grand’scene ALONE would probably took 5-6 hours!, detailing from where all the soldiers, janitors coming from, from which doors, and then show the soldier enter the Castle one-by-one, instead of swarming-in-Crowds, & the whole battle will realistically take prhaps around 3-4 hours.
Well anyway, the point is: I’d try to enjoy the whole movie (according its own Genre, of course) , and wouldn’t overanalyze it too much until what’s supposed to be ‘Good’ movie turns into ‘Bad’ movie only because of some miniscule-’unseen’-details.
But again, this is just Me (& my own opinion).
it would not be the same with any other person.
So eventually it’s all goes back to the person (& each person’s individual taste) to judge the movie, whether it’s good or bad.
February 9th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
naruhodo
February 10th, 2009 at 12:22 am
oooooooooyyyyyy sssaaapppeeee
sorry for not so good english, he2
Movies are works of art which art itself demand appreciation. Nevertheless, some films like ‘Doomsday’ ( now playing in 21 ) is hard to be appreciated by me somehow, but still it is a work of art. Lets take this way : I am now on my weekend, and i want to spend a little of my time watching some movies, wonder, how will the movie attaracted me.The movie is cursed of the golden flower, yaakkkk, i hate jay chou, he is gay, but i havent seen the movie yet, how come i judge it so harshly just by knowing the actor is gay.
The film : A good critic on ” After the carnage, there comes an ectazillion janitors sweeping the whole palace, replacing carpets, changing flowers, washing away the blood, etc. Before 5 minutes, the multitude of janitors finished their job and in the same amount of time dissapeared outside from the gate” . First, i didnt notice, and i assumed that maybe it is ‘5 hours, or more’ later. But, after my second time watching the movie, i saw jaychou’s armor still covered by fresh blood of dying soldiers, and the blood is still not in dry state. So then, it is true, that maybe the cleaning process only take 5 minutes . We may consider it as an accident that maybe quite illogical to our sense or thought. But, here is the point, how come i was so careless about such so called fatal mistake or accident ?? Maybe its only me that is so stupid not to realize such thing. But then, i once again realize, that is why i dont see such so called fatal mistake with my eyes. It is maybe because of what i perceive at the first time i watch is different from the second. The first : i curious and wonder, just like a baby wonder about the art of lifes, the art of animals walking and acting funnily and weirdly. The second time i watch, i decided myself to become more crititical in watching the film, and then i saw and perceived a lot of things differently then the first time, it showed me errors and illogical actions of men. My reading in Theaetetus make me realize, that humans may perceive things differently depend on mood and mind. When my mind desire to be critical, thus the perception, my action of seeing and hearing etc, is different from ones that mind is not. Every films may have its errors, nothing perfect because it is made my inperfect men also. So then i come to think it once again, there are no absolute ugly movie, as long as my mind want to find a little bit of goodness in it, i may find it and appreciate it. Even my favorite movies naruto, titanic, powerpuff, and even the newest film, benjamin button have their own errors. I may not find it, but still, i enjoy it..
nice discussion though , cousin ^^
February 10th, 2009 at 12:57 am
“there are no absolute ugly movie”
Obviously, my dear cousin, you haven’t seen “Dungeons and Dragons” yet.
“Every films may have its errors, nothing perfect because it is made by imperfect men also.”
Obviously, my dear cousin, you haven’t watched “Godfather” yet.
June 13th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
if it’s not stupid, it’s not a movie! you can’t compare a movie with reality!
June 22nd, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Dear fuckyouhaters,
By your logic, all movies are stupid. Congratulations for enlightening me to such profound truth.
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