Taking place shortly before the tulmutuous events leading up to World War II, The Twilight of the Forbidden City tells the story of Loy (Max Mok), a eunuch who finds himself an outsider after the royal family is thrown out of power. Loy has made the most of things, even going so far as to having a "marriage" with Fung (Carrie Ng) and her son after her husband (Felix Wong) leaves to join the revolution.

Loy's life takes a turn when he meets up with the Elder Eunuch (Roman Tam), who is so impressed by Loy's singing voice that he "invites" him to stay at the royal palace. Even though he loves Fung, Loy's old ties cannot be severed, and he reluctantly leaves. However, after accidentally meeting up with Fung's husband and hearing about the revolution, Loy's loyalties are put to the test.

Overall, The Twilight of the Forbidden City is a decent drama that probably would have been better if Max Mok wasn't the lead. He seemed to get a lot of chances to become a leading man back in the early 1990's, but none of the attempts worked. Mok never seemed to have neither the slick moves, charisma, or just raw acting talent which turns actors into stars.

The other actors do a good job, but there's a feeling that perhaps they were tired of doing these sorts of costume dramas (which were glutting HK theatres at the time) so they don't exactly do anything extraordinary, or even above average. The same could be said for the crew; the cinematography, music, and editing are compentently done, but nothing to get excited about.

The film-makers seem to have realized this early into production, and so they tried injecting some shock factor into the movie, most notably a torture sequence where a woman is force-fed burning coals. It certainly does its' job in making the audience squeamish, but ultimately, it comes off as a cheap move to try and elevate this picture from being the truly average historical drama it is.

RATING: 5