Hero
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Movie Reviews of Hero
Movie Review: Much, much, MUCH more than action.
Summary: 5 Stars
It will always remain beyond me how such a breathtaking work of art was both kept on the shelves for two years, killing its chances of wide Awards recognition, and sold off as a mindless, heartless action flick derived from the mind of Quentin Tarantino and the "skill" of Jet Li, rather then giving those who deserve most of the credit any notice (i.e. director Zhang Yimou, the beautiful and talented Maggie Cheung, the profound Tony Leung). Also, though the action doesn't surprise me, I'll forever be disappointed in the media's constant need to compare it with 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,' another martial arts film that is similar in nature, but not in structure, execution, or story.
Let's get that part straightened out: just because both 'Crouching Tiger' and 'Hero' are from the same nation, are both action-oriented films, and both include Zhang Ziyi in its supporting cast does not by any means make them at all comparable to each other. At each's core is an immensely different film. I will end this discussion of the two here, because I don't want to fall in that trap of irrelevant comparison as a cop-out.
'Hero' is first and foremost profound. Its imagery, characters, action sequences, and reality vs. internal portrayal storyline all interconnect with astounding cohesiveness, never separating from each other, working back and forth to create one of the best films of the year. Never once did I lose track of what the film was saying, or its nuanced emotional power. Most felt disconnected from it, but when you allow yourself to be embedded into the complexity of the human story (executed brilliantly with a finely crafted screenplay), 'Hero' immediately becomes three-dimensional, unfolding into something much more than an on-the-surface, mediocre war drama.
If you happen to find Foreign films abysmal, forcing you to concentrate a bit too hard for your tastes, still take the time to see 'Hero.' It is most famous for its equally deep imagery. You know you're seeing something mind blowing and revelatory when a character's robes blowing in the wind are as accurately choreographed as Maggie Cheung fending off a barrage of arrows.
What further elevates 'Hero's standing as a great film is its precise and intelligent use of its beauty. It is not simply appealing to the eye for the sake of having astounding visuals. The colors work into the story, changing as its two central characters, Nameless (Jet Li) and the King of Quin (Daoming Chen), reflect on their own interpretations of Nameless' explanation as to how he defeated three notorious assassins --Broken Sword (Tony Leung), Long Sky (Donnie Yen), and Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung)-- that have been out for the King's blood for years after he had massacred their people. The colors --red, blue, green, and white-- not only distinguish the separate versions visually, but also distill each's emotional foundation, causing the experience of watching this film to be much more involving.
I should not focus too much on the imagery, however. If you enter the film concentrating on the visuals alone, you may risk distraction, ultimately ruining this particular cinematic experience. I highly recommend this film, but I advise those who are interested to keep its themes of inner conflict, abuse of power, and the hindrance of paranoia in mind. Luckily, Zhang Yimou has done such a fantastic job honing, polishing, and crafting this film, processing it may not be too difficult for some. The combination of this subtle emotional power, Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung's masterful performances, Yimou's heartfelt direction, and Christopher Doyle's finely detailed cinematography proves to be one of the most satisfying, memorable, and epic experiences I've had at the theater in years.
Movie Review: "Our Land"
Summary: 5 Stars
HERO is a cinematic Martia Arts masterpiece comparable to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "House of Flying Daggers." With great actors such as Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Zhang Ziyi, Tony Leung, and Maggie Cheung how can this movie not miss!
The plot takes place 2000 years ago, with 7 warring states in the Chinese region. The ruler of Qin (Chen Dao Ming) wants to conquer his fellow states, and unite China. Assassins are after him, and thus he shields himself in the palace to keep all but his most loyal followers away from him. A prefect from Qin is summoned to the King, as he has killed 3 assassins who have been attempting to take the King's life for some years! Nameless (Jet Li) comes to the King, and then relates his story on how he killed each of the 3 assassins.
The first battle is between Nameless and Sky (played by Donnie Yen). For those waiting for the sequel battle to "Once Upon a Time in China II", you will not be disappointed. The scene is intense: as they battle in a rainy courtyard, with a music player providing background music. So intense in fact, that eventually the battle is fought within their minds!
Next, Nameless tells the King he travels to a small calligraphy school to encounter the assassins Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung) and Broken Sword (Tony Leung) who are currently lovers at odds. There is a beautiful scene where the King's army lays assault to the school with arrows, as the students and teacher perform calligraphy. Eventually, Nameless challenges them to a duel, but they cannot decide who goes. Flying Snow stabs Sword, but then has to first fight Moon, (Zhang Ziyi), who is Sword's apprentice. When Snow kills Moon, she goes to battle Nameless, who defeats and kills her! Following all of this? When Nameless finishes his story, the King does not believe him. And thus enfolds, the rest of the story from the King's viewpoint, and then what really happened! I was impressed by the depth of the characters and story, that eventually leads to the sad climax, and the true meaning of "Our Land" !
The movie is visually stunning! The background, the remote locations, the costumes, and the use of colors are awesome. The director uses coloring to influence the characters and the scenes! From the brightness of the yellow leaves, to the blue lake, to the green sheets in the palace, all the coloring is an explosion on your eyesight.
There are some extras on the DVD:
* Hero Defined: is basically an overview on what Director Zhang Yimou thought of the movie as he began production of the script, and how he wanted to make a "Swordsman" movie and what it takes to make a "Hero". I am still amazed that this was his first action film! Impressive! Also, for the lake scene, it took them 20 days to film the scene, as they could only shoot from 10am to 12Noon, because of the calmness of the lake at that particular period.
* Storyboards
* Conversation with Quentin Tarantino and Jet Li: An informational talk about martial arts films, and Jet Li's various performances in them.
* Soundtrack Spot
If you love action and martial arts films, you will love "Hero". Jet Li is awesome, as are the rest of the cast. The movie is visually stunning, and the martial arts and swordplay are intense and exciting! A definite must add for any DVD collection !
Movie Review: History
Summary: 5 Stars
I will start of by saying this is a great film. But the main thing I want to bring forth in this review is the history surrounding the time that this film takes place in. *potential spoilers warning*
The King in the film in real life was a ruthless tyrrant, sending millions of people to their grave in the building of the Qin Great Wall and of the 10,000 terracotta soldiers, not to mention all those who participated in the building of the glorius tomb filled with riches who were sealed in the tomb so they could never reveal the tomb's secrets, and how to get past all the booby traps (one of the reasons the tomb has never been searched yet).
A minor and perhaps weak justification to this film is maybe that even though many people were killed in Qin's regime, how many would be killed if all the warring kingdoms just kept fighting?
I myself admit that that is a pretty bad justification. But why make it up ourselves when we can go straight to the source. Zhang Yimou (Ju Dou, To Live, Raise The Red Lantern, The Road Home, Not One Less, et. al.) himself has noted that this story is put in the form of a wuxia novel, it is written as a legend, a story, not as truth. This story-"legend" if you will-could well take place in any time period (as long as there were swords and stuff like that). Probably the reason that it takes place in this time is because of the convenience of that time to the story. The story is about unification and peace, (btw, who are we to say that the story is about unification under a ruthless leader, Zhang Yimou had no political motives intentionally written into this film [while there are socio-political messages those must be seen as unintentional, a by-product of the way Zhang sees the world, and how he chooses to get by in that world]), this time period is when the great unification of China takes place. Regardless, Zhang has started to think it was a mistake to set the film in that period, because of all the surrounding controversy.
Zhang Yimou is an artist. He just wants to make good films that will be watched and remembered. His films are representations of how he sees the world. Don't judge him because of the time that he placed one of his stories in, it is completely irrelevent to the point. He is a great director. As he himself said, he did not sell out, he did not change at all, the world changed and he is just trying to make films that this changed world will watch.
Tian Shiah,
I have not seen the american release yet (I got the dvd from china; but I will see it here in the theatre soon), but I am told that they replace the term "All under Heaven" with "Our Land." This is wrong, "tian" is the rough equivelent of "heaven" in english, and "tian" is close to "land below."
Also, while Quentin Tarrentino did not have anything to do with the making of the film, he did get it released sooner then it might've been if he had not been there. It was Miramax's idea to put the big title "Quentin Tarrantino Presents", not his. The idea was that more people would come to see the film if they thought Tarrantino was affiliated with it. He deserves credit, but not directing credit, which people must recognize is due to the great Zhang Yimou.
Enjoy the film!
Zaijian
Movie Review: Mind blowingly Fantastic
Summary: 5 Stars
First of all let me clarify something, this is NOT a QUENTON TARENTINO movie. "Hero" is a foreign film, that came out originally in 1999 but was brought just now to the US thanks in large part to QT (who loved the film and thought US audiences would too).
Hero is set in china during it's "warring states" period. During this time, China was not a united country as we know it today, but consisted of 6 or so smaller kingdoms which were almost always at war with one another. Then the king of Qin (chin) attained military supremecy and began to ruthlessly conquer his neighbors, swallowing up all the kingdoms of china "like a silk worm gobbles up mulbury leaves". The king of Qin then proclaimed himself "Shi Huang Di" China's First emperor... china as we know it is born of this empire.
The story is full of twists and is told in a Roshomon style (showing different perspectives of the story until we finally arive at the truth). The entire movie is really a conversation between the King Of Qin and a bounty hunter who has killed 3 assassins from the rival state of Zhou that were trying to kill the king. The Hero, tells the king his stories of how he defeated each, and the story takes a few twists.
Our Hero, and his opponents all possess almost super-natural kung fu powers. And the fights are utterly amazing. The fight scenes and martial arts choreography are OUT OF THIS WORLD. In fact they're so over the top that many might find them "silly". But this is supposed to be more of a legend or a myth than a story based in reality and that should allow you to watch on with awe at thier powers rather than chuckling at seeing men walk on water or fly through the air.
The acting is superb. Jet Li and all the others do an OUTSTANDING job! This combined with amazing vivid visuals and innovative use of striking color give Hero a very complex and heartfelt emotional depth that other movies are lacking now a days. Everything from the diologue to the story to the acting to the fabulous soundtrack is touching and moving.
Amazing visuals, great cinematography, a wonderful score, excellent actors and a deep and engaging story... what more do you want? One word summurizes this film - FANTASTIC... in every possible sense of the word. Those just wanting a kung Fu Swordplay movie with some crazy fight scenes will get more than they could have possibly hoped for. Those wanting a deep and engaging historically based epic will also be pleased. And the passion with which this film was finely crafted ensures that it touches on every emotional aspect of life - love, hate, peace, war, passion, dedication, compassion, regret... you name it. You dont just watch this movie, you feel it - so those seeking a movie with depth and meaning behind it and a real story to tell should look no further than hero. It's a martial arts historical epic that has many levels and layers and you can come away from Hero with as much as you are willing to look for in it. A GREAT movie. a big big 5 stars.
Movie Review: Hero has it all
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a movie that hits you on every possible level, emotionally, visually, aurally - nearly every sense is engaged.
Rarely has a director's use of color to capture and frame action and emotion succeeded as magnificently as does Yimou Zhang in "Hero." Told through a sequence of four strongly defined acts within a framing device of narrative sequences between the King of Qin (Daoming Chen) and Nameless (Jet Li) each act presents a different spin on how Nameless (Hero) conquered the three most feared would be assassins of the King, becoming the only man garnering trust and honor enough to come within 10 paces of the fearful of his life ruler. Zhang imbues each act with a distinctive and explosive yet marvelously controlled palette: Red, White, Blue, and Green, each setting the emotional tone, advancing the physical drama, the resultant effect a marvelous achievement combining art and action.
As stunning as Hero is visually as a story its actors must pull their own and here Zhang is blessed with an ensemble up to the difficult challenges presented them in a deceptively simple tale. I cannot praise highly enough the work each brings to the film lending even further to the feeling of luxuriousness Zhang has imparted into every frame.
Throughout its four Rashomon-like sequences, each actor takes on divergent motivations to achieve their actions altering personalities while simultaneously maintaining the centrality essential to their established characters. In this regard, Tony Leung Chiu Wai (Broken Arrow), Maggie Cheung (Flying Snow), and Ziyi Zhang (Moon), with Messrs. Lee and Chen present a formidable acting ensemble.
Greater challenge is given to each as Hero, necessarily offers little opportunity exists for traditional character development. In spite of that challenge Zhang's cast exceeds every imposed limitation and create fascinatingly complex characters who become easy to care for as they go about the business of breaking our hearts.
As deeply felt - and as integral - as the emotional content, Hero's action sequences are executed with a combination of old world bravado and new age technology that is - quite literally - breathtaking. The scenes of Qin's army -thousands of them - in battle, marching or surrounding the palace, is overwhelming in its sheer manpower.
Hand-to-hand combats, with their Shaolin priest inspired feats of flying up walls, atop lakes or through the air are nothing short of spectacular, their stylized violent images ravishing and the most beautiful in an already staggeringly striking film.
Entwined throughout is a nationalistic tale of disparate warring factions unifying to become one China. Unfortunately many have misconstrued the film's message comparing sublimation and sacrifice of individual will for the greater good, with Hitler's plan for a master race. Nothing could be further from truth and spirit of this remarkable film.
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