Movie Review: Hero

[thomas7g]

http://www.thomas7g.com/post/hero-sky.jpg



I just saw the movie HERO. And I was really amazed by it. It was a really gorgeous film. The only film I can think of that is this rich visually is Lord of the Rings. And the music is beautiful, soft and moving.

Don't watch or listen to any of the commercials or trailers on tv or online. They are good for showing how the film is graphically gorgeous. But the editing of the commercials are REALLY bad. And its NOTHING like the film.

Hero feels less like a traditional story and more like a chinese fable brought to life.

The movie was made in China starring an all chinese speaking cast. It is the most expensive film ever made in China. And it was so well received over there that it finally made it to a mainstream US release.


The movie is about a hero in ancient chinese history. A simple man equivalent to a sheriff of a small county who manages to kill three incredible assasins who had vowed to kill the emperor. And as the hero tells his tale, we see it from several different viewpoints each very different. And the Emperor is out to discover is this man a hero, or is he a liar, or worse.

The hero's tale is repeated over and over, each time with completely new revelations, and each time is more poignant as the characters go from 2-d sterotyped heroes and villians to very deep and sympathetic characters, each one dealing with tragedy.


I'm a little unsure of what exactly is in the US release. I saw one of the imported DVDs. The US release I heard edited alot of the film down. I think the version I saw was 2 hours. The one in the theaters I hear is 90 minutes. Which is probably a good thing for the one great flaw I think is that the fight sequences are the hardest part of this movie to get through. Its not gory or nothing. It more in that fantastic syle of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon where combatants spend more time in the air flying around then actually on the ground. And they do fly around ALOT, And the battle sequences are long and repititious. But hopefully they cut out about half an hour's worth of that in the american release.

If you can accept the many rather long aeriel-ballet-like fantasy fight sequences, and accept this is more a tall tale fable than a story, then you will probably love this film.





http://www.thomas7g.com/post/hero-nameless.jpg
the nameless hero








http://www.thomas7g.com/post/hero-emperor.jpg

the emperor







http://www.thomas7g.com/post/hero-snowblade.jpg
the assassins Snow and Broken-Blade








http://www.thomas7g.com/post/hero-moon.jpg
and the beautiful servant, Moon

[The 14th Colony]

I saw this epic and I loved it. It was not just awesomely gorgeous in its artistic visuals, but it was fascinating in the changing revelations in each telling of the story. I do agree, Thomas, the only thing I had trouble with, seriously distracting trouble, was the flying scenes. I had the same trouble with Crouching Tiger which I still list as one of my top ten favorite films. I can for obvious reasons accept Jedi knights in the Star Wars prequels jumping and falling from great heights due to their control of the Force, but without explanation of mysterious powers I couldn't suspend disbelief for the flying and floating sequences in Hero (and Crouching Tiger). So instead I tried to percieve the flying scenes as figurative and symbolic displays, just as the changing colors of the backgrounds during the fight scenes were intended to be percieved. But aside from the flying and floating, this film was beautiful in presentation and the fighting choreography was brilliant. But story counts most of all, you can't have a good movie without believable characters, revealing narrative, and solid story. And this epic had all of that. Heck, even the flying and floating, though unbelievable, was itself beautiful. And, I love Zhang Ziyi so that added more to the movie for me.

[thomas7g]

I read the IMDB on Zhang Ziyi. She's the second most popular person in all China!!!! Second only to Yao Ming. That scene with her after the "writing" had me weepy.

Yeah... the way people fly can be taken as ridiculously stupid. Though beautiful. I took them as a tall tale. Like Paul Bunyan moving mountains with his ox, Babe. That this is a chinese comic book.

Was the writing translated to you as:

"All Under Heaven"?

I think this did not translate well into english. There is a term Zen, which means "Whole, all-encompasing and complete." Zen has many different pronounciations. So I'm wondering if that is what one of the words are. BTW they said three words in the subtitles. There were actually only 2 word/letters written. But you can't translate that well with just two english words.

:D

[Sci-Fi]

Well, you would have to read up on eastern beliefs and myths to understand where "flying and floating" came from. Many eastern cultures have or believe in a mythical origin and believe that their legendary heroes and leaders had extraordinary abilities. Sort of like the Greeks with their heroes like Achilles, an immortal (almost), raised by a Centaur, etc, etc. or Apollo, with healing abilities, gift of prophecy, master of Archery, etc, etc. and were generally accepted to have been at the Trojan War. Both were considered children of the Gods and were capable of being killed.

...in the tenth year of the Trojan War, Apollo came down from heaven darker than night (although he is usually called the bright one) and, in order to punish the arrogance of Agamemnon who had humiliated and dismissed one of his priests, the god let his arrows rain on the Achaean camp, decimating the army by means of a pestilence that took many lives.

I may go off-topic a bit:

So you would have to put aside personal beliefs, and try to understand where these beliefs/myths/etc came from and how they can still affect a culture. Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, etc. etc. didn't completely wipe out the old beliefs and myths. And IMHO, I'm glad. Once lost, you lose a perspective and appreciation of those myths, whether they are true or not. Afterall, we still say, "there's still magic in the world" and many read their daily horoscopes (astrology). So flying or floating in the movies are shown more in the mythical or spiritual sense than reality. In basketball, it is physically possible to appear to float or hang in the air longer by just applying the laws of physics to your jumpshot or flying to your dunk shot by simply bending your legs up to change the center of gravity. Myths tend to exaggerate it more.

Japanese Creation Myth (http://www.meta-religion.com/World_Religions/Ancient_religions/Asia/japanese_creation_myth.htm)