During the later part of the Tang Dynasty, the Chinese Emperor (Chow Yun Fat) has unexpectedly returned to his palace with his second son Prince Jai (Jay Chou), gone for three years guarding the frontier, in tow. He has come back purportedly to celebrate the coming Golden Chrysanthemum Festival with his family, but given how distant the relationship between himself and the Empress (Gong Li) is this reason seems highly suspicious.

What is really going on? Does The Emperor know about the illicit affair going on between his wife and her stepson Crown Prince Wan (Liu Ye)? Why does he meet so often with the Imperial Doctor (Ni Dahong), obsessing over the Empress’ medicine like an evil witch doctor with sinister malevolence on his mind? And what is it with youngest son Prince Yu (Qin Junjie), his secretive skulking around the palace enough to illicit even an idiot’s suspicions.

From the creative mind of master filmmaker Zhang Yimou (“Hero,” “House of Flying Daggers”), “The Curse of the Golden Flower” is a visually opulent stunner of infidelity, deception, warfare chaos and murder struck up against the resplendent backdrop of medieval China. It is a massive, almost exhausting epic full of sights, sounds, colors and spectacles rivaling just about anything else I’ve seen this year.

And yet, the film is curiously devoid of the emotional heartache and maturity almost always on display in the filmmaker’s work, the picture so furiously paced and filled with so much hyperactivity the end result is almost exhausting. It’s visually mesmerizing and always entertaining, but the connection with the characters I kept hoping for one reason or another never took place, a distant chasm sitting between my theater seat and the movie screen Yimou was unable to ever overcome.

Still, it is doubtful a person will see a more enjoyably vibrant or alive entertainment this winter. The battle scenes are ripe with adrenaline and panache, while the production design and costuming is certifiably stellar. Shigeru Umebayshi’s (“In the Mood for Love”) score is a dynamic masterpiece, while Yimou’s frequent cinematographer Zhao Xiaoding does a typical Oscar-worthy job navigating the camera.

It is the radiant pairing of Li (working with the director, her former lover, for the first time since “Raise the Red Lantern”) and Yun Fat that makes the most noise here. These two make a stellar couple, fighting and sparring and intellectually jousting with one another to almost spectacular heights. Their characters may be thin, really no more than skin deep, but they still make them sing like Shakespearean antiheroes. They’re fantastic, both more than up to the task of transforming their two dimensional rulers into electric and invigorating figures of effervescent interest.

So it’s not perfect and I definitely agree Yimou has done much, much better in the past, but that still doesn’t make this zestful and bloody epic any less entertaining. “The Curse of the Golden Flower” is fun, alive and full of passionate power. I may not know any more about the time, the place or the people by the time it comes to its exuberantly tragic conclusion, but when the whole thing ends up being this much fun pardon me if I just don’t care.

Film Rating: êêê  (out of 4)