How others will see it. This lengthy epic has a few too many characers and subplots, and it doesn't help that, at least from Western eyes, all of the men look alike. Except for the snivelling homosexual Marquis, who turns out not to be homosexual or snivelling after all. So much for first impressions. This goes double for Zheng, who doesn't seem such a bad sort until halfway through the movie. Surprise!
The real problem for Western audiences are the subtitles. Americans, in particular, aren't known for their patience for foreign language films. The argument is, when there are so many entertaining English-language movies, why watch one you can't understand? Well, for one thing, you can understand it, if you have the patience to read the subtitles. Also, foreign language means a foreign culture, an opportunity to see situations from a different perspective.
But Asian films have always had a cult following in the States, at least since the late 1940s, when Akira Kurosawa cranked out a series of Japanese classics. In terms of quality, Kurosawa is still the standard to beat, but at the box office, he was eclipsed long ago by the three Lees: Bruce Lee, Gong Li, and Jet Li.
Why is this? One reason is that cinema must march on. Hitchcock isn't making movies any more either. The other reasons are equally practical: Gong Li is hot, Bruce Lee beat people up in grand style, and Jet Li had huge budgets for his swordplay adventures. And sometimes good to great movies were made. I especially like To Live (1994), Eat Drink Man Woman (1994), and Princess Mononoke (1997), and readily admit there's more good stuff out there I haven't yet seen.
How I felt about it. But what about The Emperor and the Assassin? There is some Braveheart-style slaughtering, and a lot of nonsense including paid assassins who won't kill, but do, assassins who slaughter innocent families but are forgiven because they feel sorry about it, good kings that will show mercy, but don't, sissy courtesans who end up leading armies for a palace coup, a Queen Mother who betrays her son, and a beautiful woman who has herself branded and runs off with a dislikable, untrustworthy adversary, when she should instead stick with her boyfriend king, where she can at least influence against his murderous dark side. Oh yes, and the sets and costumes are quite good.