Hero has great action, but I didn't care for the characters, nor the ending. I don't know, I felt that without the action, it was bland, boring, and nothing I would want to see again.

Hero
By: Zingaling

Some awesome fight scenes, but a forgettable movie

Hero, directed by Yimou Zhang, tells the amazing story of a nameless warrior who battles an empire. With the help of Quentin Tarantino, Hero, one of the best-reviewed movies this year, has been brought to America. Now, Americans have a chance to see the highest grossing movie in China. The movie takes place 2000 years ago, when China was divided into six territories. Jet Li plays the nameless warrior, who challenges the empire's top assassins. The story begins with Nameless going to the emperor, Qin, to tell him of how he defeated three of Qin's greatest enemies, Sky (Donnie Yen), Broken Sword (Tony Wai), and Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung). The whole movie takes place in flashbacks, showing how he defeated the great warriors. Nameless tells Qin that he defeated Sky in a duel, and how he used Broken Sword and Snow's troubled love to his advantage and defeat both of them. However, Qin is able to see the flaws in Nameless' stories, and realizes that Qin did not defeat the three assassins, but instead, aligned with them in order to reach him and kill him. The rest of the movie is shown in flashbacks of what really happened with each legendary fight.

Hero is a brilliant movie in many aspects. First, this movie's cinematography was absolutely breathtaking. Christopher Doyle, the movie's cinematographer, did an amazing job with leaving the audience in awe during the fight scenes. He uses the every method in the book to bring the story to life. Also, the fight scenes in this movie were spectacular. The fight scene between Snow and Sword's Servant, Moon, was extraordinary. The fight was shot in a scene of beautiful falling leaves, which really gives you a "wow" feeling. Another jaw dropping part of the movie was the attack on the village by the kingdom of Qin, when they fires thousands of bows flying through the air, simultaneously, into the village. This movie, however, does suffer from a few flaws. First, showing the story in three different ways felt very repetitive, and can lose your attention for a while. Also, the movie was very slow and dragging on in some parts. Finally, I think that this movie can be very forgettable. When you first watch it, you may be astonished. When you look back, you might think it was just good, but not great. I feel that way now, 2 months after watching the movie. This movie sets a new standard for fight scenes and cinematography. The story can be weak and slow at times, but the other aspects of the movie make up for that.

Grade: B (8.0/10)

What a perfect description, Zing. Some awesome fight scenes, but a forgettable movie.

Anyone else checking this movie out? I'm watching it right now for the second time, and I must say, I think I'm going to be lowering the grade by the end of the movie.

C- Zingy, you know how dissappointed i was when this one came out and a went opening night.

Did you check out my full review of it? Something to keep in mind during your second viewing.

I read it a long time ago. But, to refresh my memory, I read it again. I understand what you mean. I just finished up watching it, and though I have seen it before, I was dissapointed with the second viewing. I think I liked it a lot at first because of how beautiful everything looked and how stunning the fight scenese were, and they still are. But, those things blinded me the first time from what was behind the action. I felt the story to be a little too.. um.. well I don't know how to describe it. It's a good story and all, but was done in a way that I did not enjoy. I guess that the whole movie being just one little story showed in a variety of ways didn't really get to me. The ending wasn't very good either. The movie itself, with the scenes and cinematography is still top notch, but everything else failed to impress. I was planning to buy this, but I thought I would give it a rent first. I'm glad I did. Dissapointment.

New Grade: C+

Hm... I guess I'm the odd one, I enjoyed it immensely. I'm a little lost for words but I know I liked it a lot.

- A

Finally, people that have seen the light about this one! As much as I wanted to like Hero, I was incredibly let down. Sure, it was nice to look at, but it was a huge case of style over substance. The entire exercise of multiple versions of the same story was pointless, just an excuse to show off action scenes in different colors. If the movie's theme had to do with deception, this might have worked, but there was no discernable reason for any of it. Add to that an incomprehensable and hugely anti-climactic ending, hillariously over-the-top melodrama at times, and even the action scenes get boring after awhile. Overall, I'd say this is the most dissapointing film of 2004. D+

It really depends on your expectations. Personally, I had very high expectations, and ended up dissapointed. It dropped for me all the way from a B+ to a C+, only because at first I only really thought about the looks, but not substance.

I just finished watching this film and I thought that it was great the fight scene between Moon and Snow was beautiful, anyways I give it a B+

A beautiful movie too look at, but the action scenes weren't that awesome choreographed and the political message is a real shocker. Tyranny can be a good thing and death penalty is to be justified. Disgusting! (C)

perhaps the best movie saw last year - A all the way

Boring to the core and overrated. Had high expectations. To be fair did not like Crouching Tiger either.

D

B

Good, but nothing special. The fight scenes and the cinematography, however, were outstanding.

Oustanding cinematogrophy. The fight scenes were well done, but sometimes drew on too long. The score was amazing. I really liked what the movie had to say about war. I also liked how the 'Hero' remained unnamed....I can't quite explain why.

EDIT Oh, yes, and B+

A beautiful film but ultimately lacks substance. The fight scenes were beautiful, but unfortunately the rest of the film lagged on. To be fair, I had a hard time understanding exactly what was occuring and will give it a re-watch (I own the DVD) at some point. Current Grade: 6.2/10 (B)

B

The movie is beautifully filmed with amazing colors, sound and contrasts. The costumes, effects, art direction and editing are all superb. The fight scenes are very well-choreographed. This must be one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen. It is the epitome of technical perfection. The acting ranges from good (Tony Leung) to mediocre (Jet Li). The story, however, seems absent. Looks like the director chose the style to go over substance. Unfortunately so...

I really really would like to see this, judging from Arthurs view, i would like it, although if theres no story, or little story, then i may hate it, ill rent it.

Grade A
Beautifully filmed, a great story twist and the best fight choreography especially between the Lou Diamond Phillips look-alike and Jet Li

LOL

That would be hilarious IF Lou Diamond Phillips was in it

You should see it, I am pretty certain, you'll like it.

im not a big fan of these types of movies i was kinda bored for most of it, but other than that, its a Beautifly done movie, beautiful colors, great fight scenes

B

C+. Good movie, but weird. They didnt use Zhang Ziyi enough, and it was to macho/commie.

It was okay, I don't like these kind of movies.

6/10 (C+)