Hero

report broken trailer
< Previous Trailer  |   Add to My Scrapbook  |   Next Trailer >
Hero

85% Liked It
liked it

Hero

Daoming Chen, Donnie Yen, Jet Li, Maggie Cheung, Maggie Cheung Man Yuk

In a distant war torn land, a ruthless emperor is rising to power with an iron fist and massive armies. To control everything, he will stop at nothing. A fearless warrior, Nameless, goes on a mission ...( read more  read more... )of revenge, against the emperor, for the massacre of his people.

Id: 6528009

Do you want to see this movie?

My Friends Said...

Hero Recent Reviews

Register or sign-in to see your friends' reviews !

Recent Reviews

Hero Recent Reviews
  • stopitgoaway
    October 15, 2009
    stopitgoaway
    After two years of hearing about the myth of the most expensive Chinese film ever made, Hero has finally floated on to British cinema screens. As it flies, it trails a coloured cloth that carries the film's numerous morals and messages which descend upon you like a soft layer of ...( read more)fabric. This is a film that can lift your spirits and have you laughing out in sheer joy as you gaze in wonder at the perfection of the mise-en-scene and cinematography. That is, if you let the film take you on a journey, without pondering the films questionable plot points.

    Hero is two sides of a tale as presented by Nameless (Jet Li), a mere Prefect who defeated three deadly assassins, and the King of Qin (Daoming Chen), the man the assassins wished to kill. Nameless weaves his heroic though modest story of how he killed the assassins, but the King remains unconvinced, spinning his own version of how he believed events unfolded.

    Director Yimou Zhang takes us through Nameless' story first, spreading the battle sequences thick, allowing them to take their own time. In the King's version, certain battles are then revised, which is remarkably brave considering that some battles are utter fabrications. In one such fictitious fight, in a faultlessly designed set, Nameless and Sky (Donnie Yen) close their eyes and fight out the battle within their minds. Screen time is being spent lavishly on showing how two characters contemplated a fight, whilst fighting each other in a battle that never occurred. It is confusing certainly, but perhaps Zhang wished for his audience to get lost in the plot's design so that they would not question the warrantability of half of the battle sequences, which make up most of the film.

    Yet, it is difficult to ponder these details when they are made so utterly insignificant when viewing such a spectacle. The sheer beauty of the battles, the gentle floating of the assassins as they fly around their arenas (which range from a forest full of orange leafed trees, crisp leaves falling down to the ground like rain, to the crystal clear and calm of a mountain lake), the costumes of characters at varying stages in the story line (red for passion, green for youth, white for truth, blue for love), the amazing army scenes which feature thousands of arrows being fired into the sky to create a black cloud that descends right on top of the camera, all these elements combine to produce a faultlessly perfect image on the screen, each frame a worthy photograph that gently reminds you why cinema is the greatest art form of the twentieth century.

    And characterisation is not lost in this beauty as one may have feared. Despite the irritating two dimensional performance of Zhang Ziyi as Moon, the other actors carry off fine performances, especially Tony Leung Chiu Wai as Broken Sword and Daoming Chen as the King. Their performances are especially credible as they are often drowning in the memories of the King and Nameless - they need to change slight mannerisms in order to reflect whose mind they are now in.

    The script too is of an impressively high standard. The moments of clarity that the warriors feel are experienced by the audience also, and there are some very informed outlooks of the emptiness of warfare, communicating that to achieve peace, sometimes war is the only option. These messages of course seem fitting in our current times, underlining how ancient some of the methods of our governing body truly are.

    Hero is undoubtedly a most beautiful and awe inspiring film. What it lacks in plot substance, it makes up for with structure and script. It elaborates on the ground work created by 'Crouching Tiger' and is an experience that I would encourage you to seek out, as long as you are willing to submit to the film and let it guide you through its world on its own terms.
  • SirPant
    September 18, 2009
    SirPant
    This is probably my favourite martial arts film of this kind, it's better than Hidden Dragon and Flying Daggers in my opinion!
  • thmtsang
    June 13, 2009
    thmtsang
    There is a plot to kill the king. Amazing scenery, fights and costumes. I like the vibrant colours and vast magnitude of the people scenes.
  • DragonEyeMorrison
    March 6, 2009
    DragonEyeMorrison
    Leaving aside any possible "ambigous-commie-oriented" profile the movie could have, this is still a great wuxia flick in all the right areas. Excellent cast, good direction from Zhang Yimou and great (if anything a bit already repetitive) photography from Christopher Doyle. Still...( read more) the best in the "wuxia trilogy" from Yimou.
  • 76Majikat
    February 7, 2009
    76Majikat
    I'm not a huge fan of wire work, so that part of the film didn't particularly impress me too much, however I thought the use of colour was very impressive and visually effective and there were also a few subtle, yet impressive special effects, especially with the water scene.
    ...( read more)r/>

    I've heard great things said about this film and I do think the swordsmanship and choreography were enjoyable, however, my preference of Martial Arts films is defintely a little more hands on, with plain raw talent, agility and fighting using the body.
  • eryri
    December 18, 2009
    eryri
    A beautiful film to watch. Interesting plot and amazing wirework fight sequences
  • shadow16ro
    December 18, 2009
    shadow16ro
    For me, this is one of the most breathtaking movies ever.
    The main actors are well chosen and very skilled (in martial arts of course !).
    The background is magical and picturesque , the plot is amazing ,from my point of view (again), others might find it boring.It has a little ni...( read more)ght -time-story touch but I think this makes it even more 'delicious'.
    I am talking about superhuman fighters and an anti-hero that becomes the ultimate hero in a very unselfish mode .And all this doesn't seem exaggerated in the end!
    The action takes part on several levels and the story skips back and forth , but it is well calculated so that you won't get confused or bored.
    The end is very dramatic, typical Asian ending :|. (EMO ! XD )
    The movie also 'benefits' an amazing soundtrack that will charm and delight your ears.
  • ahmedsniper2003
    December 4, 2009
    ahmedsniper2003
    "Jet Li is at his best. Here he does not show only his fighting skills but his acting skills as well". Those were the words my film professor told us before playing the movie for us and he was totally right; Jet Li acted in this film!! I guess the reason is that Hero was not a H...( read more)ollywood movie where acting is not that important. Anyway, the story is just great that takes your attention from the great opening scene till the beautiful, the best word to describe it, ending. The director managed to transfer the feel of the legend through his great using of colors, setting and finally the fighting scenes itself. My only problem was with the lanuage as my concern of reading the subtitles was kinda distracting but other than that I find Hero a flawless movie.
  • Pelitoo
    December 3, 2009
    Pelitoo
    Fotot i filmen går det inte att slå, men storyn-njaa..
  • sebastian771
    November 26, 2009
    sebastian771
    good action, very visual, good cast but dullness followed this film from start to end.
View All Reviews

Opening This Week

Top Box Office

Upcoming Movies

New on DVD