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Very disappointing...

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Review: Although this movie is full of fast subtitles, I really enjoyed this epic biopic about a man who stuck to his morals to the end. The acting is superb from Chow Yun Fat and the authentic scenery was brilliant. The only problem that I really found with the movie is that I lost the plot after a while. I didn't really know who was who and what they were fighting for. With that aside, I did get caught up with the emotional side of the movie and the relationships that Confucius had with his trusty disciples. Personally, I didn't know anything about Confucius before seeing this movie, so I was intrigued with his epic journey, from his early 50's until his death at 73 years old. The whole political side of the film, went way over my head but I was still able to enjoy the emotional journey. The director brought different elements to the project which will give you mixed emotions throughout the movie, so it definitely gets the thumbs up from me. Enjoyable!Round-Up: This is the first international movie, written and directed by Mei Hu and she really did pick the ultimate legend to portray. As Confucius isn't worldwide known, this movie did go under the radar but Chow Yun Fat's popular name pulled in audiences. Its definitely a movie that I would watch again but I would need a dubbed version, so I wouldn't have to concentrate on the fast subtitles.Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: $18.6millionI recommend this movie to people who are into their biography/drama/history movies starring Chow Yun-Fat, Xun Zhou, Jianbin Chen and Quan Ren. 6/10

The civil war in China during the first half of the last century from which the Communists emerged victorious left much of the history of the nation problematical. The entire social structure was brought into question and one of the thornier question was the status of Confucius and his teachings. The response of Mao and his comrades was to suppress Confucius and the philosophy that was built on his writings. This was done with the clear intention of infusing the nation with a quite different philosophy.Confucianism, therefore, was suppressed if not entirely outlawed until relatively recent times. It is clearly the intent of this movie to, as we say, rehabilitate Confucius in popular culture. Anyone who has read some of his writings will understand that he is at heart a conservative teacher who appeals to peoples understanding of what they are supposed to do, which is to say that he does not tell people to do this and that but he admonished them to behave properly and to do what is right. You will know what is right if you are a part of Chinese culture and so if you are told to do the right thing then you are being asked, in effect, to be very conservative.With this understanding we see Confucius taking the side of a lad who escaped being buried alive and arguing in from of assembled scholars that he should be set free. In this way Confucius is shown, not as a conservative, but as a radical reformer for the good of the people. He is thereafter persecuted for his radical ideas. This is an interpretation that while not entirely absurd is quite a contrast to the traditional image of Confucius as the old man fussing about how his mat is set out and how the nobles need to be virtuous.It may well be coincidental, but to the American viewer one of the odd elements of this film is the opening and closing theme. We see Confucius sitting and gazing out a window while the orchestra plays a melody that most Americans will recognize as "School Days." The story and the portrayal of the characters is attractive and I don't mean to imply that there is anything false in the tale. I don't know Chinese history or the writings of Confucius well enough to make such a claim. I do think that the movie should be seen in the modern historical context of the rehabilitation of Confucius as a popular figure or cultural hero by the government of the People's Republic.If you know nothing about the times or the man this film will make an excellent introduction, keeping in mind only that it is about a man who has had a vast and generally highly conservative influence.

Here in America Confucius is known mostly for all the sayings he was attributed for, and they mostly begin with " Confucius say..." I was really looking forward to seeing this movie and although I am now kind of shaking my head and wondering what actually happened in this movie I can't say that it was a total loss to have seen it. (Actually I own it) I could say that the best thing about this movie is the Faye Wong song at the end and the bonus video with her singing but that would not entirely be true.If I knew nothing about Confucius and had seen this movie I would never know that all his sayings that are attributed to him ever existed. Sure he has a truckload of writings by the time he died but did the movie ever go into what he actually had written? Sadly, no.It was a joy for me as an American to see the beautiful countryside, the scenery is magnificent.There is no love story in this movie except the love his disciples have for him (and vice versa) and the love he and his disciples have for their country. Xun Xhou is gorgeous and mysterious but she is only in this film for mere minutes and then she is gone.I don't even know how factual the events in this movie are. Do they follow a true history? I don't know, I was expecting to see more about his philosophy and all his writings and how they were so influential they still survive to this day.I will watch it again because I probably missed something. I always watch the movie with the original spoken language and English subtitles, so sometimes maybe I was watching too much the subtitles and missing some subtle interactions between the characters.I was not disappointed with the acting at all, I thought is was excellent.And yes for Faye Wong fans the ending song is just as beautiful as she is.

Chow Yun Fat has only recently been able to pull himself out of the 'B Grade' bracket, and then he jumps into something like this...? Beats me. I never expected much of this film. I can only pity anyone who did. lol.If your bored and looking for a movie you never saw before and like strange humor like re-takes and dragged on jokes... (IE maybe your a big fan of 'kung-pow') then you might find this entertaining... in which case I would pity you more. lol.As for all the idiots (I refrained from using the word 'uneducated' as most idiots have flopped through one education system or another these days. - ie. I know a marketing lecturer who quit because his university told him he had to 'pass' at least half the class, when most of them couldn't even speak English, let alone market to an English speaker.) Anyhow... like I was saying... all the idiots who are spouting all the garbage about politics and communism. It's laughable. If they even knew how many people were members let alone the procedures, they would probably realise that the only real lack of democracy comes from "corruption". Are they under the illusion that this this corruption isn't in western or other societies. Or perhaps that western or other societies don't use media for political or propaganda purposes. That's just too stupid to be called ignorant. ...Which basically describes anyone who isn't a Chow Yun Fat supporter and somehow had an interest in watching this movie.As far as historical correctness. It has about as much truth to it as any one-man-perspective piece of garbage that we like to call history, so that's not exactly an issue as far as I'm concerned. Once again, the only people who would be bothered by this is the idiots who say "Nah, yeah, it's true man! I saw it on a movie once!"