ReviewAsia

During the late Ming Dynasty, the Chinese imperial court is plagued by corruption as eunuchs usurp state power and the reigning emperor is deemed incompetent. The Jinyi Wei (literally: Brocade-clad Guards) is the government's secret police, trained in clandestine combat...

According to the most popular interpretations of the film, there are two distinct timelines intertwined throughout most of the film. These two timelines are torn away from each other at the end of the film, causing the "bittersweet" nature of...