Sacrifice

[GeneChing]

A 2010 flick from director Chen Kaige based on an ancient Chinese play. It's a revenge tale. A despot annihilates the Zhao clan and in the holocaust, a doctor's wife and baby are 'sacrificed', leaving the doc to raise the last orphan of Zhao. His plan is to raise the boy to build a loving relationship with the childless despot, and then have the boy kill the despot. Wang Xueqi is brilliant as the despot. Wang is emerging as a fine character actor. Remember him - he'll be in Iron Man 3.

The film begins with some great fight scenes and sword fights.

Then there's a lull of 15 years for the doctor to raise the orphan. 15 years but it feels longer. It's a beautiful film - the costumes and set pieces are magnificent, like many period films coming out of China now - and the lull has its emotional points, but it really drags in contrast to the bookend action.

Then there's the final confrontations, a good mounted battle in a forest and an emotional sword fight finale (with some wire-flying but not too much) which is pretty satisfying.

See the beginning, then fast forward to the end.

There is a lot of horse violence (looks real, not CGI).

[Lucas]

I've seen this, and almost made a thread, but then got side tracked and forgot. This is a well made film. Good quality all around. If you're looking for heavy action, you won't get, but if you are looking for quality story, quality acting, some strong emotion, some humor and some action, this is a great film to catch.