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This review may contain spoilers
All is fair in love and war...
For those who love wuxia or Zhang Yi Mou's films, Hero will weave around you, wrapping you in its hypnotic effects of color, music, scenery, and skilled performances. The film is a poetic examination of the different facets of being a hero and the sacrifices required. As a fan of both wuxia and Zhang Yi Mou I found this film breathtakingly beautiful and emotionally heartbreaking.It is helpful to understand on the first watch of Hero that the story is not told in chronological order or from a single viewpoint. Each viewpoint and version of the story has a particular color hue. When the warrior Nameless is brought before the Qin emperor, gray and black dominate the color scheme. Nameless has killed the three most infamous and dangerous assassins in the realm granting him unprecedented access to the emperor, coming within 10 paces of him with only several rows of candles between them. The emperor asks Nameless to explain how he came to possess the weapons when even 3000 soldiers could not acquire them.
Nameless (Jet Li) tells the emperor a story of how he defeated Sky (Donnie Yen) and his silver spear in the rain accompanied by an old blind man playing the guqin. Every time I watch this movie it is a treat to see Jet Li and Donnie Yen fighting in the rain with water dripping from the rooftops. Next, in a world gone crimson, Nameless explains how he defeated the warriors and lovers Snow (Maggie Cheung) and Broken Sword (Tony Leung). Broken Sword believes that calligraphy and sword fighting are intertwined. He and Snow are the masters in a calligraphy school drenched in red but have a rift driven between them. This vermillion school is the home of primal emotions-jealousy, hate, lust, and revenge. Nameless wants a banner with the unique and 20th version of the word "sword". This memory has a sequence with an extraordinary fight between Snow and Moon (Zhang Zi Yi). In a spiraling storm of golden leaves the two women swirl and parry until blood is drawn and the leaves echo the color of life and death.
The emperor doesn't believe Nameless and gives his version of events now told in blue. The characters are calm, clear thinking and accepting instead of being ruled by their passions. Instead of Nameless ending up with the swords because of vengeance, this time the lovers willingly hand over their swords in order for the skilled Nameless to kill the emperor. After Snow sacrifices herself Nameless and Broken Sword have a balletic battle over a tranquil cerulean lake.
Finally, the truth is told in white as death hovers ever near for the characters and the genuineness of their motives is revealed. The emperor's memories of Snow and Broken Sword attacking him three years ago are in green with floating green curtains hanging from the throne room ceiling. In this emerald world Broken Sword had a moment of clarity and that clarity distanced Snow from him.
Zhang Yi Mou's lush and color saturated frames were romantic and stunningly spectacular. Every version of the events was filtered through the chosen color-lighting, wardrobe, and sets. He is a director who always knows how to get the most out of nature's scenery whether in the wind blown desert or a verdant hillside. Tan Dun's score was splendidly lovely and mournful.
This film had a dream cast. Jet Li's reserved acting was perfect for the Nameless and committed warrior. Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung have never looked more beautiful. Snow and Broken Sword had a tender yearning for each other tragically tethered to her burning desire for revenge. They were truly the emotional heart of the film. Neither the lovers nor their swords could ever be parted. Their final scene was emotionally shattering. Zhang Zi Yi played Broken Sword's servant, Moon. Thinly drawn, she filled it out as much as she could. Donnie Yen was only briefly featured and brought the martial arts credibility to go along with Li's. Chen Dao Ming gave the right amount of balance, maybe more humanity than he deserved to the tyrant emperor.
Despite being a wuxia, the fights were not the main thrust of the story, even though they were well choreographed and shot. For those not familiar with the genre, the fights often relied on wire work. Though most of the actors were quite graceful as they danced and twirled in the air, there were a few gaps. The choreography tended to err on the side of the visual instead of the realistic which made for imaginative sword work. Jet Li moving through the rain drops is still one of my favorite movie images. The large Qin army raining down impossibly numerous arrows on the calligraphy school with two characters countering them conveyed the dire situation of the heroes and the high stakes.
The only thing that kept this film from being perfect for me was the ending. The emperor's adage that the brutal destruction of his enemies and annexation of their lands was for the greater good and the hero's acceptance of this was disturbing. I thought it was ironic that the old calligraphy master said, "Qin arrows can never annihilate our written words." In reality, the emperor did just that by massive book burnings and burying alive over 400 scholars who disagreed with him. I do agree with Broken Sword that the goal is to be rid of the desire to kill and the need for the sword and to live in peace with one another. Because this is not my country and history, I do not have an educated view on this emperor, only a limited personal opinion. Whether desiring to kill the emperor to prevent further war or letting him live to prevent further war, the heroes were willing to sacrifice all for their beliefs.
Despite the ending, I loved this film. The haunting score, the lush colors, fanciful fights, and sorrowful love story pull me in every time. In large part due to the stellar cast and Zhang Yi Mou's exquisite directing style, I have found few wuxias better than this one.
3/27/23
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2-Storyline/Plot : Totally loved it, i mean there were an unusual story; it's true that it's a historical-action story but it got a lot of twists, feelings of love, hate, betrayel, injustice and many other things that keep you hooked up for the hole time and what i mostly loved about the storyline that it got a lot of versions for the same story; just so creative in my point of view.
3-Acting/Cast : I liked it somehow and of course Jet Li being the lead male is the strength point that made me watch this; i just love his acting even others were cool, not bad i guess.
4-Music : the normal historical music that you find in chinese movies.
5-Rewatch value : I guess it won't be that good to rewatch it since you already know all the important twists that made this movie intresting.
6-The ending : Didn't like it but didn't hate it either, i just kept watching silently without any reaction, i guess i was expecting that kind of end from the moment i started to watch the movie.
7-Overall : A nice movie that deserve to be watched specially if you're action-romance-historical fan. I have no regrets even though it wasn't Jet Li's best movie but like i said it worth watching.
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That being said, I still enjoyed this movie tremendously. Story wise it was amazing. Acting wise it was amazing. The music served its purpose well. Rewatchability...It's not a movie i would rewatch unless it was to enjoy the incredibly choreography in the fight scenes. Overall, it's definitely a movie Wuxia/historical Martial Arts fans should watch.
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As expected for a Zhang Yimuo´s movie, Hero is such a great movie concerning to story development and artistic direction.
The story structure in different storylines is very interesting.
For me the most beautiful things about Hero are precisely the aesthetics the music accompanies so well the action and the feelings, the color palette has also a great connection to the tone of each scene, and of course the fight scenes are beautifully choreographed.
The story involving Qin Shi Huang is surely as problematic and open to debate because it portrays perfectly that any person is totally good not totally bad, and the sake of “All under heaven” has greater importance than any other thing and I think this the most valuable lesson about Hero.
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This review may contain spoilers
A colorful epic.
Zhang Yimou not only creates a colorful epic, he owns the entire martial arts genre with this historic achievement. With film art's most beautiful color palette, he shows that style can sometimes both be and enhance the content.There are films that are beautiful, films that are so dazzling in their imagery that it hurts and then there is Hero. As Zhang Yimou seriously ventures into the martial arts genre that was given new life by Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, he continues on the same track as the Taiwanese, but adds something all his own, a color scheme that beats everything in theaters now and, probably forever.
Because when Hero after a rather black introduction explodes into its scales, there is no one with fully functioning color vision who cannot drop their chin. Like when Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung fight in green, or when Jet Li and Donnie Yen spar with sound and water in greyscale monochrome. Or the most beautiful of all: A passionate red fight among yellow leaves between Zhang Ziyi and Maggie Cheung. Right then and there, I am inclined to declare this the world's most beautiful experience.
But there is an action too. A rather unexciting one. It revolves around the unnamed hero played by Jet Li. In a long conversation with the King of Qin, an assassination attempt on him is played out from three different points of view. All in different colors and with different intentions. Once the truth is revealed, both the hero and the king reveal sides that have been hidden until now in an emotional climax that may not be entirely politically correct, but in the context makes perfect sense.
However, the journey there is colored by Yimou's imagery. And what imagery! There is not a single frame in Hero that any other director would kill to be behind. Sometimes it becomes almost distancing to see scene after scene surpass each other in terms of creativity with composition, sound and message. The problem with films like this is usually that it can all become a bit too much style instead of substance and there are times when Hero comes dangerously close to not being much more than a pretty tableau. That's where the actors come in.
The under-the-radar couple Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung have made about ten films together, which is evident in their undisguised chemistry. It absolutely sparkles around the duo, who instill warmth and believability behind their color-changing outfits. Even the wooden goat Jet Li copes excellently in a subdued role and Chen Daoming is as beautiful as any in the role of the King of Qin. The only one who sadly doesn't quite make it out when all the kicking, sword-slapping and betrayal is over is actually Zhang Ziyi, the exclamation mark from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but that's more because her role is a pale copy of the one in Lee's film. However, she is still beautiful as day.
It would be very easy to argue that Hero is not much more than a pretty surface that sometimes drags out a bit well with its long fight scenes. That statement is also true when rating the film, but what makes Yimou's film a modern classic is that the surface is what makes the film interesting from the start. A story where colors tell more than dialogue. A film that stretches gravity to achieve a new aesthetic. A masterpiece.
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Questionable stance but oh so beautiful
For all of Hero's striking use of colour and landscapes, the drama, characters and ideas are not sufficiently compelling enough to sustain the martial arts. It's easy on the eyes, but too segmented to gather much momentum and too art-directed to convey much urgency. However, I can't deny the result. Both thrilling and thoughtful, offering imaginative and meticulous set pieces as it considers questions of loyalty and the individual's role in history. It is not so much a historical epic as a kind of highly determined ballet: dreamy with bloodless violence, relying less on shades of character than on magnificence of gesture. For all my grievances, the performances of its leads are captivating, Dun Tan's score mesmerising, while Christopher Doyle's photography is overwhelmingly stimulating. Hero is a dazzlingly lensed, highly stylized meditation on heroism even if its ideology is confused.Was this review helpful to you?
The movie tells his story in a unique way. The character tells the same story again and again in different forms, till we know the whole truth at the end.
Every fan of Wuxia will love the fight scenes in this movie. Perfect cooridinated.
Overall this movie is more for people who love wuxia and artistical movies.
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Depends on what you want from a movie
I assume that you've read the synopsis, so I won't re-state the plot or story here.I went into watching this because I wanted to see the movie for the OST (yeah, I heard Tan Dun's work and was curious), and didn't expect a complicated story. The story is subtle and it's point is not revealed until the very end - and even then the point of the movie is not a single scene, but several.
Told via flashbacks, the director uses color, and mis en scene to assist the them of the story. Indeed, it was the cinematography, set design, and low (but intelligent) use of CGI. Imagine, a Qin army in full regalia, in battle formations and in full costume. The images alone made the movie worth watching; or a shower of arrows that look realistic..
The acting seems wooden, but I don't think that's the point of having actors deliver lines in near emotionless delivery. The characters are focused, self-disciplined, and expert martial artists - which offers a counter to the Qin Emporer's seemingly stoic but dreaded presence.
The action scenes are excellent, and believable. In some scenes, the flowing of fabric during fight scenes are almost etherial, giving the characters an other-world quality for this non-Wuxia film.
Conclusion: if you are Jet Li fan and want to watch his technical mastery of portraying a martial artists, you'll love it. If not, give it a try because visually, the movie is stunning and impressive.
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