Movie Reviews

You probably haven't heard about Hero yet, though there's a good chance you will in the next few months. Quentin Tarantino is working with Miramax to bring this 2002-released Chinese film to North America for an August release this year. A friend of mine acquired an imported copy of the film on DVD, which has been available in China for some time now.

The best way I can think of to describe Hero is to compare it to another film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Much of the film involves the same kind of stylized wire-work martial arts as Crouching Tiger, and the overall cinematic emphasis seems to be on creating striking and beautiful images, rather than realism -- though like Crouching Tiger, much of Hero seems to be based on Chinese mythology and legend, and so realism is not an important factor.

Jet Li plays an unnamed Chinese peasant who has selflessly sought out and defeated three of the region's most deadly assassins. The king has rewarded this peasant by asking him to tell the king about his victories -- something the king is very pleased with, as the three assassins were considered to be the kingdom's greatest threats -- and most of the film is shown in flashbacks to the peasant's three confrontations.

I can't say that I enjoyed Hero nearly as much as I enjoyed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Despite having production design and cinematography almost on par with Ang Lee's film (and having some fight scenes that are almost, if not just, as thrilling) Hero lacks a little in the 'emotional connection' department. While none of the characters are especially un-likable (even the three assassins are given a good degree of humanity) I didn't really feel a connection to any of them, nor did I particularly care much for their ultimate fate.

Despite that, I still recommend at least giving this one a chance, especially if you liked Crouching Tiger. When it comes to theatres in August, I might even check it out again, if only to watch the fights and cinematography on the big screen.