Zhao shi gu er

While the premise was quite good, I felt that it was poorly executed, given that, as the minutes went by, I became less and less interested in the characters.

If you like the genre, it's well worth watching. Otherwise, there are better ones out there.

The story tries to teach a lessen, and the way it does it worked well and is different from other movies.

Chinese movie don't have to be composed entirely of fighting like everyone always would expect (it seems there are a few good movies coming out in China do not have excessive amount of fighting, including "let the bullet fly").

The story conveys a good amount of emotional feeling, and it's not cheesy.

The message of the story was delivered well, and kept me in suspense the whole time, the storyline was very unpredictable, a job well done.

Though there were some plot holes, and I would like to see that the character was really thinking about for somethings they have done.

I started watching Chen Kaige's "Zhao shi gu er" ("Sacrifice" in English) knowing almost nothing about the plot, and even less about the Spring and Autumn period of China's history. That made a lot of the movie a little hard to follow, but the clever action scenes made up for that. This story of treachery involving a general's son in the Jin duchy is one of the many historical movies from China incorporating intrigue and swordfighting (to my knowledge it doesn't count as a wuxia film).

If the movie has any downside, it's that it goes on too long. Eventually, all the battles start to wear thin. Even so, I enjoyed most of it. Not any sort of masterpiece but likable enough.

I have to admit that I am a fan of Asian cinema in general and the so-called "Eastern" movie in specific. Though "Musa" will remain my favorite genre movie, this one is pretty decent too. I do agree with another commentator that the movie switches paces after a very fascinating and fast start. I don't think it is a bad thing generally speaking, though.

While not without flaws (and story points/turns you might agree with), the story in itself is fascinating and as also pointed out by others there are quite some commentaries to todays politics. And movies are always a good medium to throw punches, especially if packed like that (playing in the past that is).

The first 20min or so has a style which made the continuity rather poor; perhaps, the Director was trying to portray multiple threads of timelines progressing simultaneously but it gave me a highly fragmented feel.

Beyond that, the movie progressed sequentially in a single thread and was aptly performed. Wang Due Qi, as usual, is a highly skilled actor and his dialogs are superbly executed.

Enjoyed it quite a bit.