Watch The Emperor and the Assassin (1998) Free Online

Release Date: 1998

Cast: Wang Zhiwen, Zhou Xun, Zhou Sun, Li Xuejian, Xiaohe Lu, Zhao Benshan, Chen Kaige, Gong Li, Changjiang Pan, Haifeng Ding, Zhang Fengyi

Categories: Movies, War Film, Drama Film, Historical Film, Historical Epic, World Cinema, Epic

The Emperor and the Assassin, also known as The First Emperor, is a 1998 Chinese historical romance film based primarily on Jing Ke's assassination attempt on the King of Qin, as described in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian. The film was directed by Chen Kaige and stars Gong Li, Zhang Fengyi, Li Xuejian, and Zhou Xun. The film was well received critically and won the Technical Prize at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. It was the most expensive Chinese film made at the time, costing US$20 million. The film covers a great deal of Ying Zheng's life, from his early life as a hostage... MORE

The Emperor and the Assassin, also known as The First Emperor, is a 1998 Chinese historical romance film based primarily on Jing Ke's assassination attempt on the King of Qin, as described in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian. The film was directed by Chen Kaige and stars Gong Li, Zhang Fengyi, Li Xuejian, and Zhou Xun. The film was well received critically and won the Technical Prize at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. It was the most expensive Chinese film made at the time, costing US$20 million. The film covers a great deal of Ying Zheng's life, from his early life as a hostage to his dominance over China, and depicts him essentially as an idealist seeking to impose a peace or unity on the world and defeated by various betrayals and losses. Its story consists in the main of three incidents: the attempt by Jing Ke to assassinate Ying Zheng; the rumour of a Chief Minister's having sired the latter before transferring his concubine to become Queen Mother; and the (possibly fictitious) story of an official having sired children by the Queen Mother herself. The first incident is shown only at the end of the film, but is foreshadowed in early acts; whereas the other two occur LESS