Yawn.

Rating: 5/10 (16 March 1999)

The Last Emperor's first twenty or so minutes are among the most jawdroppingly beautiful ever captured on film. After that, it stops almost dead in its tracks and proceeds at a snail's pace, replete with weakly written scenes and poorly developed characters. That such a great story was made into a film lacking the appropriate scope and emotion disappoints me to no end. If I want to watch a coffee-table movie, there's always Barry Lyndon.