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Hero (Ying xiong) - 8/27/04 - PG-13 - 96m
Jet Li - Nameless (Hero)
Tony Leung Chiu Wai - Broken Sword
Maggie Cheung - Flying Snow
Director: Yimou Zhang
Written by: Feng Li, Bin Wang, Yimou Zhang
Studio: Universal Pictures
JEF
First off, I’m still trying to figure out what role Quentin Tarantino had in this film. He’s listed on the IMDB credits as being the “Presenter” which is someone who introduces a film, either via a narrative voice over, or it could mean that he is an executive producer. I did a little digging on the web and have not found a definite answer either. Some think it is just a marketing ploy where Miramax is trying to run with the Kill Bill crowd for this film. Perhaps it was because Quentin really liked this film, and somehow used his pull to get Miramax to brush the cobwebs off this film, and release it here in the USA. The film was originally released in 2002, so it’s been sitting on the shelf for two years. (Actually it appears Universal was the distributor for Hero, and not Miramax.) -(* this just in... Lyn was kind enought to tell me Quentin's role... I've included his email at the bottom of this review - Thanks Lyn!) Anyway, enough of all the politics - on with the film…
Storyline: Approx 2000 years ago China was divided into seven kingdoms: Qin, Zhao, Han Wei, Yan, Chu and Qi. All seven kingdoms were in battles among one another for overall control of China. The most war hungry king was in Qin, and he had many enemies, including three famous assassins: Broken Sword (Tony Leung Chiu Wai), Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung) and Sky (Donnie Yen). The movie presents several stories all focused around these three assassins and our “hero” who is called “nameless” (Jet Li).
First the positives… The cinematography was really nice. It’s strange, because there were some scenes that were incredible to look at, but nothing really blew me out of the water. Yet, in doing a bit of online “research” for my review here, I’ve come across several still shots from the film. The still shots are amazing! I think this may be due to the fact that the effects were over done in the traditional “kung fu” style movies, where a character runs or “flies” through the air in impossible leaps. It’s difficult to get past this at times. I must say though that these effects were perhaps some of the best of this particular style. The still photos look more believable for some reason.
The use of color was amazing as well. It often changed due to a change of perspective in the storytelling, or with a change in a plot line, etc. I thought this was well done and creative.
The acting was so-so. Nothing really wrong with any of the performances but it all had the same “tone” of either determination, or grief. Perhaps Stoic is another word that comes to mind for other scenes. There were some attempts at showing a love interest, but these were few and short.
The fight scenes were typical “kung fu” style over dramatic choreographed, and impossible physics. I did like the water fight scene though, as impossible as it was, it was still cool to look at. I will say that these had a sense of art, or attention to detail rather than feeling “hokey”.
You would think that with all these positives that I would have liked this film better. But I think I was most affected by the many fight scenes. Just when I started to get into the story or plot (which was good), another fight scene would pop up and bring the story to a halt. Many are comparing this movie to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, but from what I remember Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was much more focused on telling a story as opposed to showing just another battle sequence.
Perhaps I’m a victim of what I often recommend in my reviews, in that I went in expecting a certain type of film. I was expecting a Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon movie, with a mix of Tarantino style fights, but the movie was not the same as these other films.
So, I’m reluctantly giving the film a yellow light. It had some really good parts, and was creative in some areas, but because of the many fight scenes, I’m going with a yellow rating. If you enjoy this style of films I think you will like it, and should check it out.
One final warning on a very minor point… yes the movie is subtitled. At some points in the story, the words went flying off the screen too fast to be read. I heard two other people complain of this as they were leaving the theatre.
Jef
* "Miramax, the distributor, apparently cut out 20 minutes from the movie because they found that part to be "too Asian and confusing" for western audiences. Then Miramax honcho Harvey Weinstein made a deal with Quentin Tarantino that he'd release the film uncut if Tarantino would allow a "Quentin Tarantino Presents" tag at the beginning of the film. Tarantino agreed."
