Movie Review

Movie Review :: Hero
Posted :: Sep 4, 2004 by Haggs

Movie: Hero
Written by: Ricky (Nightwatchman)
Genre: Drama/Action/Romance
Cast: Jet Li, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Maggie Cheung, Ziyi Zhang, Daoming Chen, Donnie Yen
Rating: 9/10

Hero is a very enjoyable Chinese drama filled with amazing stylized action sequences and a very developed and intricate story plot. The story is told through a series of flashbacks and even though three quarters of the movie is in flashback sequences, the pace of main story line and overall movie is not lost. In fact, the flashbacks actually add to the overall excitement of the present time scenes.

The movie starts out with the arrival of Hero, or Nameless (Lee), at the castle of the Emperor of Qin, one of the seven warring nations in China at that time. He has been summoned by the Emperor of Qin because he has killed the top 3 assassins in all of China who had been plotting to kill the Emperor for a number of years. What leads from there is the story of how Hero traveled around the seven warring nations in amazingly well choreographed fight scenes with the most beautiful cinematography in any movie ever made. I cannot stress how beautiful the landscapes are, the director not only chose excellent backdrops for every scene in the movie but he also incorporated the characters clothing and fighting style into the backdrop making for some of the most beautiful fight scenes in history of film.

The reason this movie didn't get a complete 10/10 is because I believe the director was aiming to be a little bit too artistic by making some scenes not as intense or believable as they could have been. Just because Hero is "presented by Quentin Tarantino" doesn't mean it's a gore-fest. Hero is actually more of a drama/love movie than you might think. Hero is a solid movie to see with the kids, I brought my 9 year old brother along, and all I had to watch out for is a sex-scene that lasted not more than 30 seconds tops. The scene isn't necessarily explicit, but you are able to hear most of what is happening (moans, etc.). Be sure to check out this movie if you liked Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. On a side note, Jet Lee is actually a very good actor when speaking in his native tongue of Mandarin, who would've thought?