成也編劇，敗也編劇

As the first film starting off the 2010 year end blockbuster season, Sacrifice, Chen Kaige's latest epic movie, is grabbing the nation's attention, though most Chinese audiences are getting a little ambivalent now whenever Chen's new movies hit the big screen.

On the one hand, the famous director can always call on a string of big names in the showbiz world, and directs an intense media barrage at viewers; on the other hand, people's mounting hope to see a parallel to his Golden-Palm-wining movie Farewell My Concubine always seems unfulfilled after unsparing criticism of his 2005 movie the Promise, and mixed reviews for Forever Enthralled released two years ago.

The movie Sacrifice sees Chen Kaige's fascination with traditional Chinese culture. Previously known as The Orphan of The Zhao Family dating back to China's Yuan Dynasty about 800 years ago, the old story is transformed into a star-studded action drama and takes a modern take on loyalty and revenge.

Set in the Jin Kingdom during the Spring and Autumn Period, minister Tu An Gu (Wang Xueqi) plots to exterminate a powerful clan but misses a newborn baby of the Zhao family. Entrusted by the baby's mother Zhuang Ji (Fan Bingbing) before her death, the family doctor Cheng ying (Ge You) takes away the sole heir and hides him at home with his own baby son and promises to bring him up.

But the bloodthirsty Tu An Gu vows not to leave any of Zhao's family members alive and therefore searches every household for the baby.

As the old folk tale goes, Cheng Ying would sacrifice his own son, without hesitation to keep his promise, but director Chen Kaige makes the right decision to weed out any signs of an anti-humanity plot, which only looks reasonable in the feudal age, and portrays the man's psychological struggle in masterful montages. Into the first half of the movie, the film showcases the director's great talents in camera work and storytelling.

Yet his adaptation later ignores the psychological change of the characters and dashes ahead in staccato fashion. When the sole heir of the Zhao family grows up and finds out all about his family history, the young man sets out to take revenge without showing any surprise or agony. The director probably found himself running out of budget or movie length and couldn』t help but bring the story to a hasty end. He fails to depict the inner world of the lead characters as the story takes its huge turns, and therefore ruins the integrity of the story and steals the soul of the cast.

On my 1 to 10 movie scale, I give Sacrifice a SIX.
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