The Movie:

From the writer/director of the excellent A World Without Thieves, Feng Xiaogang, comes this latest entry in the seemingly endless line of period costume action/drama/epics, Legend Of The Black Scorpion, also known as The Banquet. Set in the 907 AD where the Tang Dynasty is on its last legs, the film follows a prince named Wu Luan (Daniel Wu) who falls in love with a woman named Little Wan (Ziyi Zhang) who, unfortunately for him, winds up marrying his father, the Emperor. Broken hearted and unsure of himself, Wu Luan goes into a self imposed exile where he opts to spend all of his time studying art and music. That all changes when he learns that his uncle, Li (You Ge), has murdered his father and usurped not only the throne and title of Emperor but Wan as well. With Wu Luan the true heir to the throne, he soon finds that his uncle has sent out some assass...Read the entire review