Shanghai Triad (Zhang Yimou)

Rating: 3.0

Zhang's latest is as sumptuously beautiful and formally impressive as JU 
DOU and RAISE THE RED LANTERN, but somehow lacks their emotional 
urgency.  I don't know that Zhang can really be blamed, however; 
restrictions imposed by the Chinese government may well have forced him 
to work with material to which he wasn't particularly drawn.  Gong Li, as 
always, is a wonder, in a role completely unlike any she's played 
before; her performance alone is worth eight bucks.