good film but with many flaws

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

I'm not much interested in the sweep of history and sagas of legend where we often see the exploits of ignorant men in the light of destiny and what not. Artifice that doesn't acknowledge itself stands in our way. But I let myself be taken in by anything that comes across my eyes, believing no thing to be better in itself than others and that they all have potential.Here the thread that takes me in is that it involves China in a defining period, the unification under the Qin. It was an important time, more pertinently for me as the time that gave rise to to different schools of thought, practices of seeing and making sense of the world, some of which I treasure and they ended up forging Chinese soul forever. In a significant way the China we know was first created in this time.None of that is particularly mined here so on that count I leave empty handed. I get the saga, the lavish scope, the camera that cleanly sweeps over crowds or across imperial rooms. Sporadic battles and the tangled knots of ironic fate. In pace, sweep and intricacy, it's fine work. Some viewers thought of Gladiator, what I saw here is a kinship to Kurosawa's Shakespearean work and Japanese jidaigeki. Zhang would portray the same period and king in Hero, this is the earthier version.The one thing I found particularly noteworthy is the plot that revolves around the lovely Gong Li. Simply seeing her is an occasion for me and the other reason I'm here, the way she holds herself with aloof grace. I have made it a point to see her in most things.The story around her tantalizes; she has been sent by her husband king to a rival kingdom, her actual mission is to find and inspire an assassin of her husband that will give him the pretext for invasion. The life she comes to share with the scarred assassin (in Japanese films he would have been a scruffy ronin), hinting at genuine romance, while we are aware of duplicity and illusion, the agency it carries from the machinations to forge a world. I would love to see that as its own film.

I read all of the other comments which made this movie out to be an excellent movie. I saw nothing of the excellence that was stated. I thought it was long and boring. I tried twice to watch it. The first time I fell asleep and the second time I made it to within six minutes of the end and gave up. I suppose that it was mainly my fault going in with great expectation, but I don't think that this would have completely ruined the movie for me. The movie was just bland. It had nothing that was spectacular or unique to it. The plot was not half bad, the action sequences were non-existent, the dialogue forced and the movie just went on forever. I would not recommend seeing this movie.

Average attempt at a grand epic. Sadly the film is overly long, unnecessary slow, especially at the beginning & ending "chapters" of the film.The biggest disappointment of the film had to be the editing. It was quite poor in parts & if it was part of the "visual style" of the film, then it was totally unnecessary.That said still worth at least a look

Very disappointing, especially after seeing the director's "Farewell My Concubine", which is a masterpiece. This film is overlong and ultimately tedious. Gong Li delivers a wonderful performance, as always. And some of the battle scenes are original and breathtaking. The actor who plays the Marquis is also riveting, and the film holds your interest during his part of the film. But after a while the film feels like a lecture on what tragedies are committed in the name of noble causes. And the Shakespearian intensity feels forced and pedantic. For a much more cinematic treatment of the same period, see "The Emperor's Shadow". And, of course, "Ran".