A little less popcorn, a little more drama. That appears to have been the mantra for director Chen Kaige as he re-enters the world of the historical epic for the first time since The Promise with Sacrifice. The comic book sensibility is scaled back, the attention to realistic characters is ramped up, and I think most would agree that this is a good thing.
One thing you never have to worry about with Chen Kaige's work is the quality of the visuals and those are in full effect in the first trailer.For generations, the Zhao family has wielded power, even extending over the king. In a well-planned coup, their mortal enemy TU'AN GU (Wang Xue Qi) slaughters the entire clan, determined to wipe out their influence forever. However, a solitary Zhao baby survives the massacre, and is hidden and taken home by CHENG YING (Ge You), the doctor who delivered him, to live with his WIFE (Hai Qing) and their own newborn baby.
Tu'an Gu orders the seizure of every infant in the city, vowing to kill them all unless the Zhao baby is surrendered. When the tyrant's soldiers arrive at Cheng Ying's home, they take him from the arms of the doctor's wife. The frantic doctor hides his wife and their baby at the house of a friend of the Zhaos, but when they're discovered, Tu'an Gu assumes Cheng's baby is the Zhao heir and murders the boy and his mother.
Set on revenge, and raising the Zhao child as his own, Cheng Ying bides his time, enrolling himself and the Zhao orphan (whom he calls Cheng Bo) into the service of the Tu'an Gu household. Tu' an Gu grows very fond of Cheng Bo and makes Cheng Bo his godson, unaware that Cheng Ying has been plotting to use the boy as an instrument of vengeance when he comes of age.
But as the day of reckoning draws closer, Tu'an Gu discovers the Cheng Bo's true identity...