I can see that Yimou Zhang tries really hard to have multiple twists in the movie in order to surprise the audience as much as he could, and the movie has some fun moments for sure, but I am not convinced by the final twist - the purposes of the gang, which is to pass on the poem written by Yue Fei before he was executed. This just seems too nationalistic, political, twisted and pointless, and literally makes this movie more like a propaganda movie than a piece of art, as the core value is so twisted!
People's lives are more precious than anything. It's a great deed that people sacrifice themselves to save another's life, but it's just a brain wash that people are willing die to pass on the love to their ruler.
It's really sad to see the twisted value in so many Chinese movies nowadays, and Yimou Zhang just contributed another.
