From Danwei blog:

There’s been quite a bit said about how bad Zhang Yimou‘s latest film is: how Curse of the Golden Flower is all empty spectacle, how its skimpy costumes and blood-soaked finale amount to commercialized garbage, and how its social commentary is superficial and essentially irrelevant….

Seven layers of Curse of the Golden Flower:

– Great movie, very showy and quite watchable;

– The grand display of Chinese culture – the rainbow-feathered costumes, carved and painted architecture, and Chinese medicine – is inspiring to behold;

– Dazzling, dizzying, and disgusting;

– The opulence on display in the film is repugnant;…. [Other critical reactions here]

Read also Ice and politics in Curse of the Golden Flower by Danwei.