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Directed by: Yimou Zhang Starring: Jet Li Out of all the martial arts movies that have come out in the past few years, this one takes the cake. It takes the basic ideas behind Rashomon, and makes it better, adding special effects, as well as making the story more interesting. Jet Li's character is Nameless, a warrior whose skill is beyond anyone elses. He is the hero of the story, and walks on water, quite like that Jesus fellow, except this man does it to fight. The basic story line is he kills three assassians, and then there are three different versions of the story told, each time the director uses different colors for the different characters. All of the extras wear grey, and other assorted earthy tones, while the main characters all wear lively blues, reds, and other such colors. The fight scenes are amazing, and I still go back to watch them. While it is not comparable to Fist of Legend, it is my second favorite Jet Li movie, and is in the top five list of my all time favorite martial arts movie. If you are looking for stupid martial arts humor this is not the movie for you. If you want some great action, and just amazing camera work go see it.
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May 2, 2004 02:57
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| # ? Apr 20, 2024 05:21 |
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Not a review.
Somebody fucked around with this message at 08:14 on Aug 28, 2004 |
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May 2, 2004 02:59
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quote:Bob The Ripper came out of the closet to say: He isn't really like neo, no bullet dodge is going on. There is also no akward sex scene with metal holes in his back.
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May 2, 2004 03:02
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Not a review.
Somebody fucked around with this message at 08:14 on Aug 28, 2004 |
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May 2, 2004 03:03
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This movie is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful films ever made. The cinemotography in it is breathtaking and the action scenes are fantastic, even in the over-the-top wirefu way. Quite possibly one of the best, if not THE best, foreign films out there.
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May 2, 2004 03:05
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This was a great movie. It is a legend steeped in some history though. The emperor of the Qin really did exist and he was responsible for the first formation which resembled what is now China. There's a brief description here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chin_Dynasty
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May 2, 2004 03:20
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quote:Naky came out of the closet to say: I agree wholeheartedly. I'm excited to hear that Miramax is finally getting their heads out of their asses and getting ready to give this a US release. I'm sure they'll end up screwing around with the editing on it, but the cinemmotography alone is worth seeing once on the big screen. I can't wait!
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May 2, 2004 03:20
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Not a review.
Somebody fucked around with this message at 08:14 on Aug 28, 2004 |
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May 2, 2004 03:23
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Not a review.
Somebody fucked around with this message at 08:13 on Aug 28, 2004 |
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May 2, 2004 03:24
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Not a review.
Somebody fucked around with this message at 08:13 on Aug 28, 2004 |
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May 2, 2004 03:37
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Not a review.
Somebody fucked around with this message at 08:13 on Aug 28, 2004 |
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May 2, 2004 03:39
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Not a review.
Somebody fucked around with this message at 08:11 on Aug 28, 2004 |
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May 2, 2004 03:43
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I saw this on DVD a few months ago (I have a nice neighbourhood rental place that specializes in rare DVDs  ) and I have to say that this movie is as good as a film can be. Good story, lots of action, beautifully shot, great characterization...do yourself a favour, watch this movie! I am going to see it again when it hits theatres as the spectacle of this movie on a big screen with nice sound makes me drool.
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May 2, 2004 03:43
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This movie has some really amazing fight sequences and a hell of a lot of beautiful imagery, but it strays so far from any concept of realism that it may turn off a lot of people. Also, it's pace is extremely slow in parts - something that I personally love to see in movies, but could easily put you to sleep.
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May 2, 2004 04:08
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This is a beautifully done film, but the slow pacing and the way the plot was structured turned me off. It felt like I watched the same movie two or three times. I'd still give it a three, just because of the beautiful imagery, though.
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May 2, 2004 04:10
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hello
Somebody fucked around with this message at 08:10 on Aug 28, 2004 |
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May 2, 2004 04:37
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I have to say I was let down by this movie. The martial arts were fairly lackluster, and were done better in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, or just about any movie with Yuen Wo Ping as martial arts choreographer. While the story did have an intriguing premise, the film didn't use it to it's full potential. I didn't feel a connection with any of the characters, and I found myself getting bored with it after a short time. Even worse, Zhang Zi-yi's talent is wasted in a role that quickly became annoying. The cinematography was well done (no surprise with Chris Doyle as cinematographer), but crap with a glossy finish is still crap. More than this though, I think the film advocates a pretty frightful philosophy. It seems to be "might makes right" and a tacit approval of any totalitarian government. Someone on imdb explains it better than I can: quote:So we have the emperor - who seemed rather inclined to let the assassin go - and two conflicting principles: the revelation from the calligraphy about how the real strength of the sword is in its disuse, and the absoluteness of the law. He goes with the law, and the hero dies without protest in a dense and impressively filmed swarm of arrows much reminiscent of those used to mow down the calligraphers in the village that the army attacked earlier in the movie. In a split second this not only advocates a rather ugly lack of humanity in the application of the law, not only suggests that one must unprotestingly acquiesce to power whether just or not, but calling back to the rain of arrows from the earlier scene is a fairly strong suggestion that the two instances were no different. Both rains of arrows - the one to execute an assassin (a sympathetic character, but nevertheless a criminal), and the one to slaughter a school full of innocent calligraphers - are justifiable by the philosophy that the good of uniting "all under heaven" outweighs any evil done to individuals.
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May 2, 2004 04:40
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Fine movie. Beautifully filmed. Cinematography on par with David Lean's epics (Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago...) Fantastic fight sequences. 5.
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May 2, 2004 04:47
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I can't remember who said it, but I completely agree with the quote "There is not a single frame from this movie, that one couldn't take out, frame, and hang on the wall of an art gallery." It's visually beautiful, it has some brilliantly understated characterization, a superb soundtrack, and just a few of those outlandish moments that make you say "Whoa, poo poo!" like the original Matrix bulletdodge did. The languid, drowsy pacing at times would be unbearable in most other movies, but in the context of these visuals, it isn't. It's like watching an unearthly dream. And Zhang Ziyi. Oh Ziyi  It's not a movie for kung-fu nuts. It's even less realistic than Crouching Tiger, and there's actually very little fighting onscreen when it gets down to it. It's more like an artistic interpretation of early Imperical China, with the obvious theme of martialry that brings along. Indeed, a Chinese friend assured me it's based on a very real, historical tale. Look up the Qin Dynasty for a more factual idea. I don't believe for a minute any studio would be dumb enough to contemplate a dubbed release, it would probably destroy the movie in my opinion. I'm rating it a definite 5 for now and cherishing my imported copy, but that rating mightn't hold up for a dubbed release. I sincerely hope we get a good release, because this kind of movie would be spectacular on the big screen.
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May 2, 2004 04:51
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I liked it, but the historical inaccuracy gets on my nerves. It portrays the Emperor as a misunderstood guy, when in fact he was a tyrant who burned every single book there was and killed all the scholars. And the ending has been interpeted as supporting the unification of China (i.e. Taiwan), so everyone in Taiwan was pissed off about it. But yeah, it looks nice. VVV Yeah, you're right, I dunno what I was thinking. Mozi fucked around with this message at 17:49 on May 2, 2004 |
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May 2, 2004 04:56
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Overall, I thought Hero was a very good movie. The cinematography was gorgeous, and the fight scenes were very well choreographed. However, while the story was interesting, I didn't really care for the characters much. One the one hand, we have Jet Li's character, "Nameless," being a complete badass. On the other hand, everyone else is pretty boring. All in all, Hero is definitely must-see material. While I do prefer Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hero is no slouch.
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May 2, 2004 05:14
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quote:BlueElysium came out of the closet to say:  http://thomaschen.freewebspace.com/custom4.html I liked the movie, just for the first fight sequence. Donnie Yen and Jet Li? SEX. The story didn't bother me that much. In history, the divided nations bickered with each other A LOT. The peasants suffered immensely because of the constant border swapping. Before Qin, there were probably like 20+ countries in China that were at constant war with each other.
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May 2, 2004 05:38
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Just saw this one, so awesome. The way the entire movie setup was just amazing.
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May 2, 2004 06:00
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Not a review.
Somebody fucked around with this message at 08:12 on Aug 28, 2004 |
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May 2, 2004 06:14
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Not a review.
Somebody fucked around with this message at 08:12 on Aug 28, 2004 |
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May 2, 2004 06:18
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quote:Bob The Ripper came out of the closet to say: This is a product of Miramax's deceptional trailer, but I can assure you, he's nothing like Neo.
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May 2, 2004 06:38
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EvilTobaccoExec fucked around with this message at 19:53 on Jun 19, 2006 |
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May 2, 2004 07:02
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quote:ad infinitum came out of the closet to say: Quite true, the trailer sucked and gave a completely wrong impression of the movie. The person I was with thought it was Tarantino rehashing Kill Bill. But thinking about it, there really aren't too many ways to make a decent trailer out of the movie, with all the plot twists that you can't give away. The original premise of the movie, a man going to claim his reward for killing off assassins, has no conflict, and saying anything more would ruin everything
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May 2, 2004 07:13
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Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Hero are both movies made in the "wire-fu" genre. It's difficult for non-chinese viewers to understand but this sort of "unrealistic" action is steeped in a long history of chinese filmaking. The whole point of the action sequences in the aforementioned movies is not to impart "realistic" action at all! Rather they pay tribute to chinese action film making of old. Think of bollywood or spaghetti western genre of movies. They're similar in that they all maintain a theme. I love Hero and CTHD because I grew up watching "wire fu" chinese soap operas. edit: Aside, I was telling a friend earlier today that I thought Hero was going to be a controversial release in north america because it would be interpreted as apologism for chicom totalitarianism. So be it. If a bunch of nutjob pseudo spiritualist hippy morons want to complain, let em. It's still a great movie.
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May 2, 2004 08:34
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I've watched this a few times now and I love this movie. It's one of Jet Li's better films (especially when compared to crap like his latest American releases). I was quite suprised to see that it was gonna be released in the US, when I saw the trailer for it during Kill Bill Vol 2. In the trailer, they portrayed it as too much of an action film with lots of kung-fu and whatnot.
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May 2, 2004 10:26
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I watched this movie and thought it was awful. The plot barely made sense. It felt like it could have been edited to be shorter without missing much. I didn't enjoy "the beauty of the movie". That just bored me. I thought the Emporer and the Assassin was much better in comparison.
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May 2, 2004 18:53
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Not a review.
Somebody fucked around with this message at 08:11 on Aug 28, 2004 |
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May 2, 2004 19:36
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This is one seriously fantastic film, and it makes me excited about the quality of movies we can expect to be coming out of the far east in the future.
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May 3, 2004 18:26
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Bodybuilding Virgin 420 fucked around with this message at 04:47 on Oct 27, 2012 |
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May 5, 2004 09:31
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This movie is visually stunning, and there are some very poigniant scenes. It seems like every tiny detail, from the way characters walk to the way a lid is removed from a box is meticulously planned out to add to the mystical feel to the movie. The arrow/calligraphy scene is a perfect example of surrealistic cinematography. Rating 5/5 for amazing cinematography and a great story. I can't even stress how much I love this movie. Jargon fucked around with this message at 03:25 on May 7, 2004 |
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May 7, 2004 03:06
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quote:peniscurve came out of the closet to say: Not to mention that, but all of the fight scenes are actually with Jet Li, and not a CG version of him.
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May 14, 2004 04:45
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I really liked this movie. Beautiful scenery, nice use of colors, awesome action, interesting plot... 4.5/5 Good, but not perfect, although pretty close.
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May 14, 2004 10:28
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Loved the movie. Didn't start out liking it, but warmed to it once I realized that I was going to see 3-4 versions of the same story, as well as some amazing scenes of Imperial ritual. Not as good as Rashomon tho. This is definitely a pro-Communist movie, but at least it's much better than any pro-American movie I've seen in recent years (Pearl Harbor? blecch. The Alamo? What was the Alamo?). Asians seem to make better movies, on average, than Hollywood, but why, drat them, why?
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May 14, 2004 20:53
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What alot of non-chinese don't seem to understand is that the central theme of this movie, that is the submission of one's self for the greater good, is a prominent value integral in chinese culture. It's not so much an apology for chicom policy as it is an evocation of cultural pride.
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May 15, 2004 00:38
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I was struck by the movie's beauty, but also by its flaws. I do realize the cultural elements behind it; that doesn't excuse that for an action movie, only a fraction of the fights were conclusive/substantive in any way; all the main characters, supposedly so strong, seemed to be trying to die at one point or another rather than trying to do what they thought was right, and most of them succeed in becoming a martyr. Also, due to how it was told several plot elements got hashed out repeatedly. There was a sense that each character wanted to die as soon as they doubted their beliefs, and the movie seems to say that this is honorable. I find that incredibly troubling. 4/5.
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May 24, 2004 16:25
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