Lasereth

I can sum up this movie in one huge gigantic question: Spoiler: WHY DIDN'T HE KILL THE FUCKING ARMY AT THE END????

I enjoyed the movie, but that part really, really got me. I understand WHY he chose that path, but man, Spoiler: I wanted to see Jet Li kill an ARMY.

Oh well, I guess ya gotta be a big Crouching Tiger fan to like it a lot. I'd probably give it 3 stars out of 4. Maybe 2.5!

-Lasereth

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bltzkriegmcanon

I can't disagree with this.

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Nikilidstrom

I saw it on Friday, and I was impressed. I had seen reviews from people who had seen the original Chinese release that ranged from stunning to highly overated, so I didn't know what to expect. The visuals were stunning, telling a story all by themselves. I didn't think the story was quite as strong as Crouching Tiger, but only because they didn't spend as much time developing the characters. It was nice to see alot of familiar faces from some of my other favorite Chinese cinema giving strong performances, just wish Donnie Yen could have been in it a bit longer. All in all, an awesome flick for those who love genre.

-Ever-

Yeah, I agree Lasereth. And why did Spoiler: the King have Jet Li executed? He wasn't an enemy by that time, not if he had future plans to unite the different people.

Again, I'd recomend seeing the movie more for the art than the story, it's a bit confusing. (maybe it's not confusing and I was just paying more attention to the beauty and not fully reading all the subtitles )

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Sparhawk

Great art, interesting story, cool fight scenes. What gives it the thumbs down in my book is the rather blatant pro-china propaganda; that this tyranny is so important to china's future well-being, that it is better to leave it in place than to risk the alternative. Well, frankly, that pissed me off bigtime.

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Halx

I dragged my dad to go see this with me. We were both blown away by the amazing visuals. The sword fight in the leaves was especially spectacular for me. I detected the same vibe that Sparhawk pointed out, but it didn't bother me. I don't really know how I feel about it, now that I think about it, but I know it didn't turn me off.

If you can appreciate symbolism and visuals, do yourself a favor and see this movie. It's quite breath-taking.

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PulpMind

great movie.
slower than I expected, but not a problem when I quickly became enthralled in all the elements that make this movie stand out so far (see above).
I really didn't like the moral ending (or, unmoral?). If it's based on a true story / concrete fable, then I guess there's no arguing with it. I'll have to look into that.. but I could of dealt with a more dramatic, happy ending.

then I hopped into exorcist. what a piece of shit movie.

matteo101

I loved this movie. It is an epic, and is so much more then the average movie. It is more of a piece of art. Every scene is beautiful and vivid. The story is abit complicated, but comes together at the end. Which makes it very interesting. The martial arts was simply amazing, and the CG was really cool. I want to see it again.
Go see it. 9.5/10

pocon1

The movie was so-so. It tried to outdo Tiger/dragon. Also, Jet Li can fight, but he cannot act to save his life. It was too fantastical (c'mon, fucking swirling leaves?, fighting on water?) and too chinese inscrutable (Jet li's ending.) It was really a message to Taiwan.

Esoteric

I saw Hero this past weekend and I enjoyed it very much. I would have to say the fight scene in the leaves was my favorite fight scene. Great movie, imo.

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MageB420666

The swirling leaves and fighting water are symbolic of actual ideas used in martial arts. The swirling leaves are a representation not only of using ones chi to affect your environment, usually by applying it to your opponent, but also symbolizes how your moves need to be smooth and flow like the wind. The water scene is all about how you should step lightly, always on the balls of your feet, so that you can move fast. Plus it's not all about realistic fighting, it's art. It's showing a flowing beauty of movement.

I personally loved the movie, except the let's support chinese history theme at the end. The building of the Great Wall probably killed as many people as it saved.

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happyraul

My take on the fantastical fights in both Hero and CTHD is that these movies are like fairy tales. The characters themselves are mythological, so of course they will have powers beyond regular people. And what mage said too. Good movie.

yellowgowild

Probably wrong, but it might have something to do with achieving that 3rd level of sword skill the king was talking about called "peace".

Or because he understood that the ultimate aim of Qin's army was to unite all of China and end all wars, maybe he decided not to fight against that goal?

PulpMind

^^^^^
'eeh... again, another statement on how lame the ending "moral of the story" was. so what if Qin was trying to unite all of China? wasn't every region warring to take over another region? why choose Qin over any other region's king? lame. I get the idea of sucking up your personal feelings for the common good (as the main character did, in respect to the "goal" of the king)... lame.

fckm

Qin was the first one to really unite all of China. The Qin dynasty was the first Chinese empire, the previous ones (Zhou and Shang) were more like kingdoms. The first Qin emperor was the one that really started the whole concept of Empire, that is, the control and unification of all lands. This idea of unification has lasted mroe than Two Thousand years. Throughout the history of China, there have been periods of cival war and unrest, dynasties rose and fell, but one thing that never changed was the idea of Empire. Everyone fought for control of the entirety of China. Keep in mind that this is the mindset that has been prevalent in China for the past Two Thousand years. This will give you a better appreciation for why the situation with Taiwain is so problematic for the Chinese. Never have Chinese people want to dissolve the unification. And indeed, pretty much up until the death of Jiang Jie Shi, Taiwan claimed to be the central authority of China.
The phrase "under heaven" (Tian Xia) not only means "all lands under heaven" but also in a sense "heaven wills it" or "heaven condones it". The idea is that Unification will bring peace throughout the land, create a common writing system, etc.
Now, this of course is just a fable, a fairy tale. It should be compared to what elementry school children are taught about our historic leaders, like George Washington, or how Abe Lincoln fought the civil war to free the slaves. Just think of how much American fairy tales are embedded in our own culture, and remember that we've only been around for two hundred years. This tale about the "nameless Hero" has been told throughout China for two Thousand years.
Hopefully those of you who have watched this film with think about it and try to understand it. I personally think it gives a lot of insight into the Chinese mentality.

Delirious

I would love to get more story on some of the characters involved.

Like Broken Sword, how did he break it?

How did Flying Snow and Sky get involved? How and why does she have a piece of his spear?

The story of Moon could be another movie as well.

BuddyHawks

Great imagery and fighting, confusing story.
4/5

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shortynickel

you soooo need to get kill bill 1 and then rewatch kill bill 2, granted u know what happens in the end but i couldnt imagine seeing 2 before 1

rascalus

even though the movie was released in China in 2002 and was nominated for best foreign film at the oscars in 2003, Hero definitely deserves the buzz its been getting today (and then some).

I got a chance to see it at the beginning of 2003 and I couldn't believe that it had been passed up for distribution here in the states until Tarantino decided to step up. This just proves how much of a gambling game the movie business is, and I personally would pay twice as much to see a film like Hero succeed in such a sea of awful, awful summer fare. Long live Zhang Yimou.

If you liked Hero, you should definitely see some of the director's other works. He did the cinematography for "Yellow Earth," which has some of the most amazing exterior shots of China I've ever seen. The story is not amazing, though. Then, check out "Red Sorghum." It's beautiful as well, and the story is much more developed.

KnifeMissile

Probably for the same reason they changed the go parlor into a chess parlor...

FaderMonkey

I'm not sure what I think about the movie. I thought the movie was good, but I walked out of it feeling disappointed. I guess I just didn't think it was as good as all of the hype makes it out to be.

One thing that bugged me the most was the score. I LOVE Tan Dun's music. I think he's a fantastic composer. In this movie though, it just seemed like the score never stopped! It's beautiful music, but it was just always there...never stopping...constant music.

rascalus

Keep in mind that over 2/3 of the movie revealed lies, which includes the scene where Flying Snow had the piece of the broken spear. Since it was a lie, she never had a piece of the spear anyway. Flying Snow and Sky met in a flashback in the film (during a truthful sequence narrated by Sky), which shows them talking by a waterfall and then working with calligraphy.

rascalus

exactly. fantastical martial arts stories are comparable to comics in this country. like the stories of supermen in comics, martial arts heroes defy realistic human movement with their abilities, but once the reader accepts the (excuse me for the lack of a better term) absurdity associated with superhuman abilities, the story's development takes more of a rational approach to conflict and morality.

many american viewers find the martial arts corny in films like these because of the absurdity of the movements, but for chinese audience members who are familiar with these types of stories, it is much easier to accept the martial arts sequences as an art form, not just a method to resolve conflict.

LeviticusMky

The single best movie I've seen in years.

Why film directors are afraid to use over the top visuals and why we don't like them is beyond me. Given, in a drama flick, being down to earth is a good thing, but if you're paying to see an action movie, I would think that you would expect something that was over the top.

A side note, my Wife, who loathes going to action flicks asolutely loved this one. She said; "It not really even a movie, it's like a series of paintings..." I totally agree, the main thing that did it for me was the amazing visuals. Best color compositions that I've ever seen...

That plus I got to see in in a totally empty theatre, always a plus.

yakimushi

I saw it tonight and loved it.

But I'm a sucker for Asian film and art movies so this was like double fudge for me.

Derwood

I thought this was fantastic.

As for Spoiler: Why he was executed at the end., my best guess is because Spoiler: The elders of the kingdom and many of the soldiers witnessed the final confrontation between Nameless and Qin, and so to not kill him would be to show weakness as King. Nameless sacrificed himself for the greater good of the nation

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Nafter

Loved this film, any recommendations for ones in the same genre? seen Crouching tiger hidden dragon also.

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sashime76

From the cinematic aspects, this film is as good as Crouching Tiger or better. From historical aspects, The Emporer and the Assassin is far better. If anyone who is into hardcore, "real" martial arts, check out "The Wheel of Life" DVD. My jaws hit the floor when I saw the part where one monk did a "two finger stand".