This film, in my view, is one of the new classics, new, because it's not that old since 1986. What surprised me is its IMDb rating, just 5.3, but ''Bahubali'', Indian naturally, there is 8.8, just I am amaze. One of my "little big actors" plays in the movie - Brian Brown, and I think it's "the role of his life," not that there are not others, but I think here is the main role and he performs it perfectly. The other big is Joan Chen, who plays his Chinese wife, and for her performance I also have no words. I'm sorry, it is not possible for someone who likes the "Bahubali" to like this movie as well. Time will show which one is more valuable.

It's 1839 near Canton, China. Chinese officials come to the British settlement demanding for Tai-Pan (chinese word for supreme leader) to appear before the emperor's commissioner for importing opium. Dirk Struan (Bryan Brown) goes despite his companion May-May (Joan Chen)'s warning. The commissioner orders the opium burned without compensation and all foreigners leave Canton. The foreigners retreat back to Macau. Struan sets up his new Nobel House in Hong Kong and convinces Britain to claim the land.The production looks more like a TV movie. The quality isn't there. The acting is pretty stiff. The story is even worst. This world is too complex to be simplified this way. It basically skims over such tricky issue such as the Opium War. The movie feels lifeless and overwrought.

first, inject countless clichés and stereotypes, populate the cast with some well-knowns, and add some 'tit'illation. and wait for the box office receipts to pour in!!! I am very very disappointed in this film which I purchased on VHS. its one of those I *know* I wont be watching a 2nd time. it meanders, gap toothed, and those stereotypes just weigh it down till it sinks in Hong Kong harbor. and of course, top it all off with a quickie pan of modern day Hong Kong. some good acting but not enough to overcome the numerous shortcomings.I didn't read the book but Im sure it far outclasses this quickie 2 + hour 'featurette'. is there a Hollywood ombudsman you can call up to you know, get your money back or something?Im glad IMDb exists so that duds like this can be outed and red-flagged.

Okay, so it was very late, and I was very tired, but I did find this entertaining, and in the end, that's all I was looking for when I was channel surfing last night.I admit that some of the accents were poor, but not any worse than Tom Cruise's 'Oirish' in Far and Away, and many other Hollywood attempts I can't be bothered to list at the moment. And though not Oscarworthy, this certainly wasn't the worst acting I've seen. I may have enjoyed it far more than it deserved, because I'm feeling really homesick for HK at the mo, and all the little things like the materials used for some of the men's waistcoats and even the skyline (wow, how much things have changed since they filmed that!) made me smile. What also made me smile was the way *SPOILER*Dirk always seemed to get wounded in the same arm....you'd think after a few fights he'd be all 'What are you doing with that gun? Watch my arm. Watch my arm. Oh, not again!' */SPOILER* I have to confess, I didn't catch all of it - only about an hour and a half - from about 5mins before *SPOILER* the fight on the boat*/SPOILER* to the end, but what I did see kept me up and wanting to see more until the end, and isn't that what filmmakers want us to do?Not the best film I've ever seen, but certainly not the worst.