Product Description

A spectacular, dazzling and bloody re-imagining of Shakespeare's legendary Hamlet, The Banquet is an epic tale of revenge, violence and betrayal. Locked in a loveless marriage Empress Wan (Zhang Ziyi) is desperate to keep her forbidden love of Prince Wu Luan (Daniel Wu) from a family divided by cruelty and oppression. When the Emperor suddenly dies, his conniving younger brother Li takes up the throne forcing Wan to marry him. Convinced that this is the only way to protect all she loves from being destroyed by this new power hungry tyrant, Wan agrees. But Wu Luan refuses to see his love snatched away through such evil, greed and deception. After repeated attempts on his life amid furious confrontations with the new Emperor's imperial assassins, Wu Luan resolves to return to the palace and take revenge for himself, his beloved and a nation in the grip of murderous madman.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10157 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-06-02
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 125 minutes

Synopsis
Lavish martial arts epic in the tradition of CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON and HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS from the director of ASSEMBLY, Feng Xiaogang.

Review
The world's best choreographer, Yuen Wo-Ping might have topped himself with fight scenes --Hollywood Reporter

Review
Superb, A Spectacular Epic ... Prepare To be Gobsmacked ... Mesmerising --Morning Star

Customer Reviews

Brilliant, bizarre and beautiful drama with balletic martial arts
The Banquet is a stunner. If you enjoyed any of the recent popular martial arts dramas (Crouching Tiger, Hero, House of Flying Daggers, etc), then you're almost certain to revel in the beauty, horror, action and extreme emotions of The Banquet.
Don't be put off by the knowledge that it's based around the plot of Hamlet, because you need no knowledge of Shakespeare to enjoy this film. it's also not quite the same story -- and definitely not the same characters! In fact the lead character, torn between ambition, love, desire, hatred and fear isn't the young Prince at all...

You will need to concentrate on the plot to enjoy the fine detail and political intrigue of this Tang Dynasty drama. The Emperor is usurped and his brother takes the throne: the young Crown Prince in is immediate danger (although he can't be killed publicly); the queen must decide whether her future lies with the new Emperor or with her old loyalties, and her old lover.
All this intrigue is set against jaw-dropping backgrounds; scenes of breath-taking beauty and simply stunning action sequences. There are some horribly bloody scenes which serve to underline the brutality of the regieme, while the massed ranks of the court bow and scrape in a corordinated and colourful unison. Everywhere you look on the screen is a riot of intricate detail, much of it with an underlying significance to the plot.
By now you've probably guessed that I really can't praise The Banquet highly enough. It captivated us for two hours, and I'll be happy to watch it again in a couple of months. It's a great shame we couldn't see it at the cinema (all that colour and spectacle would be brilliant on a big screen), but this is a film not to be missed whatever format you can see it in.
9/10

A visual triumph in an unforgivably cropped DVD
Feng Xiaogang's The Banquet aka The Legend of the Black Scorpion certainly lives up to its reputation as one of the most beautiful looking films ever made. A spectacular Chinese adaptation of Hamlet filmed on an epic scale with no expense spared and with all the action scenes that Shakespeare forgot to write, it's clearly aiming to be another Hero, with nods to Akira Kurosawa's Japanese samurai Shakespeare films along the way. Although it never quite hits the same highs, it works surprisingly well, with Daniel Wu's Crown Prince brooding over his father's murder by his uncle while his former beloved Ziyi Zhang is consumed by revenge in her desire to kill the new emperor as courtiers plot and intrigue around them. With superb art direction by Tim Yip, excellent cinematography by Li Zhang, striking fight sequences courtesy of Yuen Wo-Ping at his best and a fine score by Tan Dun (Andrew Lloyd Webberish end title song notwithstanding) and filled with colour, light and movement, it's always a treat for the eyes and ears - or rather it should be.

Unfortunately and unforgivably it's never quite as spectacular as it should be in Metrodome's UK DVD, which crops the film from its original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio to 1.85:1 (particularly noticeable in the fight in the snow) and thus loses serious brownie points. A shame, because otherwise the transfer is excellent, and unnecessary too, since the film was shot in Super 35, which would have allowed the film to be transferred to 1.85:1 without any loss of image on the left and right of the frame had the transfer been done with even a modicum of care: though not the way the director intended the film to be seen, it would have been less damaging to the carefully constructed visual design of the film. Not much in the way of extras either, especially compared to the 2-disc Asian and US releases - just a 15-minute making of and a brief teaser trailer.

Good intentions scuppered by unfortunate DVD presentation
THE BANQUET
[Ye Yan]

(Hong Kong/China - 2006)

DVD aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Theatrical aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Super 35)
Theatrical soundtrack: Dolby Digital

Feng Xiaogang's sumptuous adaptation of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' is a triumph of design and cinematography, with top Chinese stars (Zhang Ziyi, Daniel Wu, etc.) and a genuine flair for epic drama, set against a magnificent 10th century landscape. However, like so many historical melodramas (HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, HERO, et al), the results are a little overwhelming, and the 125 minute running time seems excessive, though the film succeeds primarily on the strength of its visuals.

Unfortunately, all of director Feng's good intentions are scuppered by this unfortunate DVD presentation. Projected theatrically at 2.39:1 (necessary to appreciate the beautiful compositions and set designs), the DVD has been cropped to 1.78:1. Worse still, the movie was photographed in Super 35, allowing for the image to be 'opened up' at top and bottom, but this hasn't happened: Instead, a 2.35:1 element has been used, and simply cropped at either side, resulting in visual compromises all the way down the line.

The trailer is framed at 2.35:1, and so are the clips used as illustration in the accompanying 'Making of' featurette. The opening and closing credits are also framed at 2.35:1, but the bulk of the film itself is cropped to 1.78:1. This is absolutely unacceptable for such a major title, and completely undermines the filmmaker's original intentions.

The US DVD, released under the title LEGEND OF THE BLACK SCORPION, is correctly framed at 2.35:1.