The Banquet...

saw The Banquet last night with Vincent... after his birthday dinner at Uber-Burger (or some other name) @ Millenia Walk... the place where they have the S$101 burger...

my take on The Banquet... a display of beautiful people, sets and costumes... flawed by a bad script and slow pace... and marred by horrible acting, with the exception of Ge You, who played the Emperor...

have i had too much expectations due to all the hype and controversy over Ziyi's double?? i don't think so lor... the entire movie gave me the "been there, done that" or "seen this, used that" feeling... horses running in river... screams Lord Of The Rings... the makeup and costume remind me of all the wuxia pian before The Banquet... the soundtrack by Tan Dun sounds all too familiar... the set of the palace is similar to Hero... while the set of the place where the Prince learns music / acting is so House Of Flying Daggers... of course the fight scene is nothing but imitations of everything we've seen previously...

overall, The Banquet is nothing original... but a poor rojak feast of bits and pieces from past movies...

1 popcorn + 1 popcorn (for the closing theme song) out of five popcorns...