Review of The Last Emperor (1987) by Wayne K — 07 Jun 2018

As beautiful to look at as it is tedious to watch, The Last Emperor is an incredible visual feat. Not just because it's the first western film to be shot in the Forbidden City, but because of the costumes, set designs and the Directorial style, which captures the elegant beauty and eventual chaos of the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

John Lone gives a tough if slightly passive performance as the titular Emperor, at first unwilling to accept his position and later desperate to hold onto it. Where the movie falls down is it's pacing.

After doing a little research, I discovered that I was watching the extended edition, which was meant to be aired as a TV special, chopped up into several chapters for weekly viewing. But when viewed as a whole, it's unbelievably slow.

Like most historical epics, the slow, sweeping movements of the camera over landscapes, ancient buildings and throngs of people looks gorgeous, but it plays havoc with the ebb and flow of the film itself.

So many sequences feel overextended, like the Director simply let them go on because he liked how they looked. It feels like the film was intentionally trying to be longer for no other reason than it would seem more, for lack of a better word, epic.

Having worked in China for years, I was fascinated to see the development of the Emperor, his restrictive role in society and how the country adapted to life after his reign, but everything took so long to happen or say that the message quickly became lost.

The film certainly made me want to learn more about China in the depicted time period, but it failed to engage me with the characters or the narrative. I hope to see the 2-hour 40-minute version in the future, as I'm sure it would clear up most of the pacing issues, but as for the story itself, it just didn't speak to me.