As a big fan of Martial Arts films (and Jet Li in particular) I was looking forward to the release of Hero in British cinemas in late 2004.
The film is directed by Yimou Zhang (House of Flying Daggers) and stars Jet-Li (The One, Romeo Must Die) and is shown mainly as a series of flashbacks. An appearance is also made by upcoming actress of the moment Zhang Ziyi (Crouching Tiger, House of Flying Daggers), though in a fairly minor role.
THE STORY:
Set in ancient China when the country was divided into 6 kingdoms, the film explores one of the legends into the assassination attempts of Qin, a powerful leader who was trying to unite the warring factions and lead the country into a new era.
It was widely believed that Qin did not have the country's best interests at heart and therefore several attempts on his life were made.
As a result of this, Qin lived in his palace surrounded by guards and noone was allowed within 100 paces of him on pain of death.
One day Nameless (Jet Li) is presented before the king having defeated 3 of the most skilled assasins in China - Flying Snow, Broken Sword and Sky and bringing their weapons before him.
Qin asks Nameless to tell the story of how he defeated these 3 supreme warriors as he cannot believe that a lowly magistrate such as Nameless could have more skill than these 3.
Nameless begins with the story of Sky and the epic duel he fought to secure victory. As a reward for killling Sky Qin allows him to drink within 50 paces of him - a great honour.
He then moves on to the tale of Flying snow and Broken Sword, who were lovers. Nameless tells how he turned them against each other to weaken and then defeat them. As a reward, Nameless is then allowed to drink within 20 paces of Qin.
As the story unfolds however, Qin becomes suspicious of Nameless and believes that he has some specific skill which he can only use at close range and that the other assassins sacrificed their lives in order for Nameless to be able to approach Qin.
We are then shown how Qin's version of events would appear in another set of flashbacks (you will notice that the clothing and sets change colour to indicate the difference).
Faced with Qin's accusations, Nameless reveals yet another twist in the tale (cue more flashbacks and colour changes).
What is the real story? Is Nameless just another assassin? Will he succeed in killing Qin?
MY OPINION:
At the start of the film I was a little put off by the flashbacks, but as it progresses you understand the reason behind this. The fact that the same story was being re-told in different ways did make it seem a little drawn out, but the twists in the tale were quite interesting and the amazing and beautiful fight scenes made the length more than bearable.
A lot of people have compared this to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, but I don't really think it is very similar. This could just be because the primary player is Jet Li and he normally finds himself in more contemporary action films, rather than grand, sweeping epics.
The whole film does have a very traditional feel to it, from the dress styles and the vibrant colours and settings, to the haunting sounding music, rather than a western take on the theme. I find this very appealing though there are many who have an interest in Martial Arts in films only if they are in a modern setting.
I personally enjoyed this and would definitely recommend it to others. It may seem a little long and drawn out but if you bear with it you may be pleasantly surprised!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Martial Arts - Director: Prachya Pinkaew - Original Language: English\Vietnamese\Thai\Mandarin - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Tony Jaa, Bongkoj Khongmalai, Petchtai Wongkamlao
Production Year: 1981 - Martial Arts - Director: Kenji Misumi, Robert Houston - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Kayo Matsuo, Minoru Ohki, Akiji Kobayashi, Shin Kishida, Masahiro Tomikawa, Tomisaburo Wakayama
I saw this one at the cinema, I'm a huge jet li fan and have seen all his films but at the cinema there must have been a deaf guy in control of the volume as the soundtrack was sooooooo loud that our ears actually hurt and we had to cover them for every sword fighting scene cause the swords chinking together were sooo loud!!
harveyatkinson 08.03.2005 14:42
Good review on a beautiful film. I thought it was brilliant, the styling and use of colour throughout the film was sublime.
eve6kicksass 27.02.2005 00:38
I want to see this film very much, even though I don't care for Jet Li....im more of a Jackie Chan fan myself....Chris xxx
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kungfuchaos 13.05.2003 ·
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Review of Hero (DVD)
![Quentin Tarantino Presents: Hero [DVD] [2004]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78515208.jpg "Quentin Tarantino Presents: Hero [DVD] [2004]")
Feb 10th, 2005
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