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Rating:  -
First off, it is important to note that this version is the shorter, American version. While some of the changes were subtle, they do take away from what I consider to be a flawless film. For instance, the translation of Huang Di in this version is 'Our Land'. And while that seems nice, the true translation is 'All Under Heaven'. Just has so much more poetry to it. If you enjoyed this film in the US, seek out the original version.
Hero is fantastic because it is not a pure martial arts movie. With Zhang Yimou at the helm, there was something else to be expected of this film- and it delivered.
What Hero represents is martial arts filmmaking as an art form. While watching the movie the thought that kept popping into my head was 'visual poetry'. The amount of nuance and subtlety that Hero contains is hard to even begin to explain. But the more you watch, the more you see the little details that add so much to the film, mostly on a subconcious level.
See the colors change. Notice when all the sound is pulled out in favor of silence, or of just the musical score. The power of a scream where there is no sound is overwhelming. The interplay between regular and slo-motion is used, not just for visual style, but to jar ones senses or to convey an emotion that words cannot evoke. See th focus change as the direcotr leads your eye around the screen. Notice the arrangement of people and objects in the frame. Nothing is an accident. Nothing is left to chance. It is obvious that Yimou has control over even the slightest detail, a gift reserved for a handful of only the most talented like Hitchcock or Scorsese or Wong Kar-Wai.
The fight scenes in Hero are amazing because they have a life of their own. They weren't designed to "one-up" every other fight scene ever committed to film. The much touted Jet v. Donnie fight is extraordinary. Not because it is the most technically complicated or the most mind-blowing, but because it is designed for these two legends to be in perfect sync with one another. It is flawless. Even more so, it tells a story.
In the fight we see the essence of these two characters. And the fight scenes just get better from there. The scene over the lake still gives me chills when I watch it. That may well be the most poetic choreography I've ever seen.
What else excited me about this film is that Tan Dun returned from doing his excellent Crouching Tiger score to do this one. Except this time, he traded in master cellist Yo-Yo Ma for legend violinst Itzhak Perlman. This score is more accessible than the CTHD one was. And the music is like its own character in this film, sometimes being the only thing one hears. It complements the picture and the story brilliantly and lends much to the viewing experience.
I was disheartened to see negative reviews on the internet where people felt it was a film that was a propaganda piece for China and its rule. I understand that the real Huang Di was not as beneficent as he was portrayed in this film, and that his rule was violent and short. But what I saw wasn't propaganda for a communist/socialist government. What I saw was the beauty of a culture that evolved over hundreds of years of bloodshed and hardship. And regardless of the official party line, I was moved by "All under heaven". At no point was I ready to throw a Che or Chairman Mao poster on my wall. I don't think this is the movie that people need to worry about "sending the wrong message" to the kids.
This film was not meant to be any type of historical record (that's why we have history books and why movies aren't valid sources to cite in research papers). What this movie represents is filmmaking at its greatest height. The film as a true art form, combining on-screen and off-screen talent with visuals and audio that can stand alone, yet when combined, equal more than the sum of their parts. Asian film fans, martial arts fans, the average Joe, and film snobs alike should be able to appreciate this on many, many different levels.
Rating:  -
This is a very artistically creative film. There is a great number of archetypal characterization and a soupcon of historical connection to the joining of the various Chinese states under a centralized Emperor. Jet Li, of course, brings a strong sense of emotional enactment into his role as the hero to put the Emperor on to his destiny. I highly recommend this. There are a few special features with this DVD, but it is worth it simply for the film.
Rating: -
Zhang Yimou's "Hero" is probably one of the most visually beautiful and exquisitely filmed movies I have seen in many a year. Set in the third century BC during the unification of the seven kingdoms under the first Chinese emperor, the film stars Jet Li as a literally Nameless warrior who has supposedly vanquished the emperor's most fearsome enemies: Sky, played by Donnie Yen, Snow (Maggie Cheung Man-yuk), and the previously undefeatable Broken Sword (Tony Leung Chiu-wai).
Nameless is escorted into the divine presence as a hero, but after hearing his account of how he defeated these three foes, the emperor isn't buying any of it; he suspects Nameless fabricated the whole thing only to get within striking distance (ten paces) of the emperor himself in order to carry out an assassination plot. The story then divides itself into a Rashomon-like re-telling from various POVs, each one photographed with strikingly vivid color shifts -- a vibrant red, a pale blue, a pristine white, and a delicate, pale green. And then we see Reality, photographed against a background of lifeless desert mesas which seems to emphasize the futility of it all.
The most compelling characters in the film are Snow and Broken Sword -- she's a single-minded woman warrior with a take-no-prisoners mentality, and Broken Sword, her lover, is a warrior who has fought one fight too many and no longer believes that the sword is the only option to resolving conflicts. But Snow, like the true believer she is, loves her principles more than him, and the resulting confrontation between them is as inevitable as it is tragic.
The acting is excellent all around. Jet Li is an appealing and likeable hero (or is he an anti-hero?), and Tony Leung gives a totally convincing performance as Broken Sword. The cast is rounded out by the exquisitely beautiful Zhang Ziyi as Broken Sword's servant Moon, in love with her master and faithful to the end, and Chen Dao Ming as the emperor of Chin.
There are going to be endless comparisons between "Hero" and "Crouching Tiger", Ang Lee's masterpiece. Visually, "Hero" can hold its own against "Crouching Tiger" any day in the week. And yet, somehow, it doesn't grab you emotionally in the way "Crouching Tiger" does. "Hero" is gorgeous to look at and maybe that's its problem, it's so eye-popping to watch that the story doesn't measure up to its pure visual impact. Zhang doesn't do a "Rashomon" tale as brilliantly as the late, great Akira Kurosawa, and in this film he doesn't grip us as totally as Ang Lee, but he's delivered a movie that, at least to watch, is eminently satisfying.
Judy Lind
Rating: -
This one of the most truly beautiful movies I have laid my eyes on. And not just from a visual feast, but the musical score by Tan Dun and epic storyline all together makes for a remarkable, unique combination. The clever use of different colours with the martial arts in different moods of the movie was breathtaking. Its one of those rare gems that can be watched many times and gives a cleansing effect to the soul.
Rating: -
Complex storyline, engaging characters, beautiful cinematography, action galore, this is perhaps the best action movie ever made. LOVE the way color is used in this film to set the mood and establish points of view.
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