After director Ang Lee's massive success in the West with his flying martial arts extravaganza Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), came Director Zhang Yimou's Hero (2003), and House of Flying Daggers (2004).

Neither of Zhang's films had quite the amazing globe success of Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but they both still did very well. Of course the Taiwanese Lee has a very impressive log of American backed films that have done brilliantly, like Sense and Sensibility (1995), Ice Storm (1997) and more recently Brokeback Mountain (2005); whereas Zhang who is huge in China was until Hero only known in the West to film aficionados.

This Zhang's latest venture is steeped in the usual beauty, violence and positively Shakespearian tragedy we have come to expect from these Eastern stories. It's A.D. 928 China during the latter part of the Tang dynasty and the beautiful Empress (Gong Li), who has been feeling unwell for some time, is now a lot worse. She realises the medicine she has been ordered to take is not helping her, but she is forbidden to refuse it. It isn't just her health that is worrying her, she has been having an affair with her stepson Crown Prince Wan (Liu Ye) for many years, and now he wants to finish the liaison. The Crown Prince is secretly in love with the Imperial Doctor's (Ni Dahong) daughter Chan (Li Man), and has tired of the dangerous relationship with his stepmother.

Returning from his latest battle the Emperor (Chow Yun Fat) and second son Prince Jai (Jay Chou) have come home for The Chong Yang Festival to celebrate it with their dysfunctional family. Prince Jai is appalled by the deterioration in his beloved mother's health and alarmed by her obsession with the golden chrysanthemums. Prince Yu (Qin Junjie) the youngest son of the Emperor and Empress, who is longing to be a credit to his father, is the only family member largely ignored in this Palace of intrigue and hatred.

This is a really sumptuous production, with everything from the drapes and carpets to the clothes interwoven with gold. The Empress's head-attire is so ornate and heavy you can't help but wonder how she manages to stand up. But the story suffers from the truly ghastly dysfunctional family it portrays. On the plus side, for anyone who thinks that riches will bring them happiness they may well change their mind after seeing the curse it brings here. The script conveys the coldness that is required for the story, but in doing so I found myself not caring whether any of them lived or died, not a very healthy feeling.

What is a true pleasure is watching the magnetic Chow Yun Fat, who was so riveting in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and the stunning Gong Li, who gave an equally fine performance in Memoirs of A Geisha (2006). They are quite brilliant here in parts that require very little conversation, but lots of facial expression. Unfortunately the CGI in big battle scenes is rather too manic and resembles a video game. But this doesn't take away from what is an extravagant, classy film about ugly decadence, directed by a class director. 7/10