visually impressive but not entertaining

Rating: Null/10 (27 March 2003)

This movie has large sets of medieval chinese armies,and some-wire- swordfights in forests, over lakes and other visually impressive back grounds.It all has to do with the first emperor of China and the idea of uniting the combating 7 kingdoms and thus terminating the bloodshed.This concept may have been noble,at least according to the chinese,but unfortunately it doesnt come out as such in this movie. It looks much more a political idea instead of a philosophical one that the movie presents it to be.The person who will embody this idea,the future emperor,seems more of a brutal soldier than a philosopher whom you would trust to bring some peace into the world, which is the main objective.The other main characters are too mythical and superhuman for the viewer to understand their motivations and i couldnt get emotionaly involved in what was going on.The plot works much like a detective story removing several layers to find the truth,and this is beautifully visualized with different colors.The movie doesnt lack qualities, but for some of my favorite stars like Jet Li and ZangZiyi i think it doesnt improve on what they have already done.