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Rating: 3 out of 5
I’m sorry, but I am going to say it. The Last Emperor was one of the most boring movies I have watched. I don’t want people to be like it’s about Chinese history, and I hate it. Nope, the movie is freakin boring as hell. Some parts are cool, and it’s interesting to see how a country moved on from royalty. It is the beginning of the current history that is China today. Yet, I was looking for more. I had to see what other movies competed with this one for the Best Picture award, and none of them were worth winning.
What is the Last Emperor about? Well, by the title, you can probably guess. It is about the last emperor of China. For starters, let’s give a history lesson. Puyi was the last emperor of China as the eleventh and final Qing dynasty monarch. Homeboy became emperor at the age of two. Could you even talk? Yet, he was forced to abdicate during a revolution, and his life was primarily up and down. I also read that he was pretty cruel. The Last Emperor was directed by Bernardo Bertolucci from a screenplay he co-wrote with Mark Peploe. It was adapted from Puyi’s 1964 autobiography, From Emperor to Citizen. The film is presented in the present day and in flashbacks. Puyi arrives at his prison for rehabilitation but tries to commit suicide. The film then goes on to show his birth and a really brief reign in the Forbidden City. Yet, dude was thrown out, and his personal life became blah as his one wife became an addict, and he was made a puppet emperor. His people see him as a failure until he is thrown in prison.
The story is fascinating as it was a chronicle of the last emperor of China, even though now the country is ruled by a dictator and quite strict on many things. That is another topic for another day. It’s fascinating to watch a person being a ruler one day and the next being just another person on the street. The film tries to go into detail and paint a somewhat rosy view of Puyi. Yet, I heard homeboy was an absolute dick to his subjects and did many terrible things. The film showed him spoiled as a youth, but homeboy needed his ass whipped.
The prison scenes were okay in the film as they showed Puyi being rehabilitated. Yet, it also showed that the citizens he used to rule were pissed at him. I don’t know; it just seemed like homeboy didn’t care. It’s one thing for your people to revolt, but it is an entirely different thing when an army raids the Forbidden City and you just playing tennis. Get the fuck outta here. Also, it showed how incompetent Puyi was when Japan made him a puppet ruler. Did you really think you were going to get your throne back? Get outta here. Then the whole situation with homeboy’s wives was another thing that added more to the drama.
I would say that highlight of this film was the cinematography. Showing the epic city and places of China was well done along. You really get a sense of what China is back in the day. Also, on that line, how about them costumes? It brought out China’s essence and added to the movie. Yet, those were the only two things I really enjoyed. Besides that, it was a long ass movie.
Even the late great Peter O’Toole couldn’t help this film. It was nice to see a legendary actor. When he came on screen, I thought he was out of place. I wondered why he was around, and then I had to look him up. When I read the character he played, he was a great choice because O’Toole brings that cool, sophisticated factor to movies.
I’m sorry, but the Last Emperor is one of those films I had ZERO interest in. It was an okay movie to learn about the end of a long line of emperors. Yet, the film’s ending was what I thought about the film. When the tour guide talked about Puyi’s life, it was only for a quick second before she moved on. That is how I feel. It was whatever, and time to move on.
