| 100 |
Chicago Tribune
Few Hollywood action pictures are half as exciting or ravishing.
|
| 100 |
Austin Chronicle
Everything about its scale is epic.
|
| 91 |
Portland Oregonian
This multistoried historical plot is packed with almost three hours of nuances and hidden meanings, and the slippery smiles and sly innuendoes often seem lost in translation.
|
| 90 |
Los Angeles Times
A stirring, thought-provoking feat of filmmaking, accomplished in every facet.
|
| 90 |
Washington Post
A stunner -- as big and messy as a war, as small and perfect as a diamond.
|
| 90 |
Chicago Reader
This is a powerful story and a splendid spectacle.
|
| 88 |
San Francisco Examiner
It's a more intelligent and dimensional epic than, say, "Anna and the King." Emperor is worth every single penny.
|
| 88 |
Christian Science Monitor
Has a mixture of strengths and limitations often found in historical epics: lots of eye-filling action and spectacle, little in the way of psychology or human interest.
|
| 88 |
New York Daily News
Based on the true story of the first emperor of unified China, could be downsized and told as an American Western.
|
| 88 |
Boston Globe
As savage and as epic as film gets.
|
| 80 |
TV Guide
The sheer size of the production dwarfs the human drama.
|
| 80 |
Dallas Observer
For those with a taste for epics that integrate the historical and the intimate.
|
| 80 |
Film.com
It's epic in every sense of the word, and like most of Chen's historical dramas, not easy to follow.
|
| 75 |
San Francisco Chronicle
The look of the film is first class, with muted colors but deep textures, the opposite of historical kitsch.
|
| 70 |
The New York Times
Crammed with enough melodrama to fill several soap operas.
|
| 70 |
Variety
A string of striking set pieces hung on a dramatically shaky clothesline.
|
| 67 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Quite long and violent enough to have made several critics squirm in their seats during a recent press screening.
|
| 63 |
New York Post
Meanders along in a confused, confusing way for what feels like hours.
|
| 63 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
A gorgeous, gory epic, is a blow-your-mind masterpiece about the emperor who ruled more than 2,000 years ago.
|
| 60 |
Film.com
It's sumptuous, archaic, and longer than a firehouse ladder.
|
| 60 |
Village Voice
Solid middlebrow entertainment, a vast period epic with an almost DeMillean taste for excess.
|
| 58 |
Entertainment Weekly
A historical drama as static as it is stately.
|
| 50 |
Baltimore Sun
A bit hard on the posterior, it is definitely easy on the eyes.
|
| 47 |
Mr. Showbiz
Strains our patience with overacting and photography so sumptuous you can't help but ponder why so much bloodshed and mayhem is being so expertly prettified.
|
| 38 |
USA Today
A quagmire that reportedly has undergone multiple edits to reach its current incomprehensible state.
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