The Banquet (2006 film)

The Banquet, released on DVD in the United States as Legend of the Black Scorpion, is a 2006 Chinese wuxia drama film. The film was directed by Feng Xiaogang and stars Zhang Ziyi, Ge You, Daniel Wu and Zhou Xun. It is a loose adaption of William Shakespeares tragedy Hamlet and Henrik Ibsens play Ghosts, featuring themes of revenge and fate. It is set in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in 10th century China.

The tension in the Imperial Court is high, and when a palace official, Governor Pei Hong, greets Empress Wan as Empress Dowager, he and his family are sentenced to a violent death. With his death, Minister Yins son, General Yin Sun, is sent to fill the position in a distant province, greatly weakening Yin Taichangs position in the court. Wu Luan is asked by the Emperor to perform a brief swordplay ceremony, to practise for the Empress upcoming coronation. While sparring with harmless swords, the Imperial Guard suddenly produce sharpened swords and attempt to kill Wu Luan. The ceremony is stopped by the Empress, who implies that the Emperor was trying to murder Wu Luan in the ceremony and make it look like an accident. Later in his chambers, a scroll drops mysteriously from the upper balcony to Wu Luan, depicting his father being murdered by his uncle by blowing poison into his ear. Wu Luan enquires at an apothecary, who reveals that the poison used is made from Arsenic trioxide and black scorpions, and nothing on earth is more deadly except for the human heart.Meanwhile, the Empress Wan is to have a new coronation ceremony. As a special treat, Wu Luan is required to perform a swordplay ceremony. Instead, as an accomplished singer and dancer, Wu Luan stages a masked mime play that exposes his uncle as his fathers murderer. The Emperor is notably shaken, but manages to conjure a plan to remove Wu Luan. Rather than kill the prince and risk alienating Empress Wan, he decides Wu Luan would be traded as a hostage for the prince of a neighbouring kingdom, the Khitans, although it is known that the neighbour prince is an imposter. An ambush by the emperors men is set up the snowy border with the Khitans kingdom in the north, but the Yin Taichangs son Yin Sun, following the Empresss command, saves the prince. ........

Source: Wikipedia