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Overall Rating
 Awesome: 51.39%
Worth A Look: 25.93%
Just Average: 8.8%
Pretty Crappy: 3.24%
Sucks: 10.65%
13 reviews, 138 user ratings
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| Hero (2004) |
by Smiles
"Totally Lives up to its name!"
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Hero is a movie that lives up to its name. Not just in the literal sense of having a strong main character. But also for the heroic way it approaches story telling, art direction and emotion. For some moviegoers, the movie Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon was their first foray into the magical world that can exist in eastern cultures and their movies. This movie takes that experience one step further.Hero is a movie that lives up to its name. Not just in the literal sense of having a strong main character. But also for the heroic way it approaches story telling, art direction and emotion. For some moviegoers, the movie Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon was their first foray into the magical world that can exist in eastern cultures and their movies. This movie takes that experience one step further.
As soon as the movie begins it is clear that this is not a typical Hollywood film. And no, it is not just because the movie is spoken in Mandarin with English subtitles. First, the movie starts where we were led to believe it should end. Our hero, Nameless (Jet Li), is being introduced to the King of Qin (Daoming Chen) because he has successfully slain three sworn enemies of the king. Then instead of a standard linear explanation of how Nameless killed these opponents, different versions are bantered around in a series of flashbacks as he and the king discuss the events.
And as the story unfolds we are treated to visual splendor. Nameless encounters Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung), Broken Sword (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) and Sky (Donnie Yen) who at different times have all tried to kill the King of Qin. Their fight sequences are well choreographed and take off where Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon left off. Interesting angles are used when Nameless and Broken Sword fight over and walk on water that makes the audience feel as if they were there. Characters also fly through the air effortlessly as when Nameless and Flying Snow fend off thousands of arrows with by twirling billowing robes as their only defense.
The director and cinematographer have also used slow motion in many of the action scenes that heightens the experience. In one flash back, watching Broken Sword fight with the King of Qin in slow motion gives the scene more gravity than if it had been at full speed. An added bonus of the action sequences is that they help to move the story along, instead of distracting from it.
But what is unusual for an action film and what takes this movie from a mere film to art is the skillful use of color. It is almost another character in the film. For as the different accounts and flashbacks come to light, each has its own signature hue attached. These particular colors set the mood and tempo of the scene, almost on a subconscious level. Red is passion, blue is cool and white is innocence.
Conveying such passion, coolness, and innocence is an able cast. It almost hard to separate the acting from the action (and the colors), but that is a testament to how effectively the cast comes across. As each new version is played in a flashback the actors subtly change their delivery to fit the scene while staying true to the character.
Underpinning all of this is a story that tests the concept of what truth, loyalty and county means. This movie takes place before a unified China existed. The King of Qin is trying to take over the six provinces in the area. In the process he has killed many and many want to kill him. This revenge seems justified but the King of Qin has a bigger goal to unite all the provinces as one so that the fighting between them can stop. This leads to questions such as: Should you be loyal to your province or your people? Should the truth of one take precedence over the truth of all? Should you value family over county? With everything going on in the world today, these are just as relevant questions.
Besides stimulating the mind and the eye this movie also treats the ear. The score features solos by Itzhak Perlman. Any movie is enhanced by the addition of his work and Hero is no different. If color is a silent character, these violin solos give them a voice.
Hero came out in Asia two years ago. Much of the crew went from working on Hero to working on Kill Bill with Quentin Tarantino, and he has helped to bring this film to the United States. The question is whether American audiences will be receptive. The draw to the theater for many will be the martial arts. But can that alone sustain moviegoers through a plot that is not the usually Hollywood action story line? Hopefully the answer is yes, because for those who can make it past the beginning of the movie, there are just rewards.WIll make you wish you could fly
link directly to this review at https://www.hollywoodbitchslap.com/review.php?movie=7701&reviewer=383
originally posted: 09/29/04 15:29:20
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OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2004 San Francisco Asian-American Film Festival. For more in the 2004 San Francisco Asian-American Film Festival series, click here.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2004 Sydney Film Festival. For more in the 2004 Sydney Film Festival series, click here.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2004 Seattle Film Festival. For more in the 2004 Seattle Film Festival series, click here.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2004 Los Angeles Film Festival. For more in the 2004 Los Angeles Film Festival series, click here.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2003 Palm Springs Film Festival. For more in the 2003 Palm Springs Film Festival series, click here.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2004 Edinburgh Film Festival. For more in the 2004 Edinburgh Film Festival series, click here.
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USA
27-Aug-2004 (PG-13)
DVD: 30-Nov-2004
UK
N/A
Australia
04-Nov-2004
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